


Episode 2-13 - "A Tale of Two Sisters"

by stgjr



Series: Undiscovered Frontier Season 2 - "Whispers of Destiny" [13]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Multi-Fandom, Original Work, Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-18 04:03:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11283369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: Angela and Caterina help a group of alien-seeking 21st Century Londoners being stalked by an alien monster.





	1. Chapter 1

**Teaser**  
  
  
It looked like a picturesque day. The sky was blue with white fluffy clouds, not a speck of gray or black among them. The sun was out, the air and temperature were comfortable. It was the sort of day you used for picnics and barbecues, for outdoor sports, for swimming.  
  
But it hadn't turned out that way for the Delgado sisters.  
  
Caterina was at the wheel of the car. And every part of her brain that remembered 21st Century roads screamed she was on the wrong side of the road. It took a conscious effort to not correct well over a decade of memories of traveling on the right side of the road in order to remain on the left.  
  
After making a right turn, Cat suddenly faced a stationary delivery truck on the curb. The passengers behind her in the car cried out in surprise and fear just as she did. Even as she shrieked her instincts turned the wheel to the right. Their four-door car barely evaded the delivery truck.  
  
The truck heading right for them was another story.  
  
"Right!" Angel shouted. "Right!"  
  
Moving right sent them up a curb and on the sidewalk, but it evaded the head-on collision that would have put a complete, and fatal, stop to them. As soon as she could Caterina veered the car back onto the road and then to the left side. "Why can't you people drive on the right side?!" she cried out in irritation, not even intending the obvious pun.  
  
"Why can't Yanks?!" was the reply from the back seat, from someone as frightened as she was.  
  
_I shouldn't be as frightened as them_ , Cat thought. _Sure, there's a monster after us, but I've been through scary things before!_  
  
"Everyone stay calm!" Angel insisted. Since she wasn't driving, she was busy tracking the signal they were trying to get to. "Make a left up here."  
  
Cat did so, onto a thankfully empty road. She kept her speed up.  
  
And then the road wasn't so empty.  
  
The thing dropped from the sky, a giant brown-and-red-feathered albatross with a cane wrapped in its talons. The moment it hit the ground the form shifted, turning sickly green and becoming an immobile mass before it reformed into a humanoid shape, a heavy-set male in a dark suit. In the back the two passengers shrieked in surprise and horror.  
  
There was a sinister smile on the creature's face as it drew up the cane.  
  
Cat knew what that meant. Her mind raced, numbers flashed through her head, and so she did the only thing she calculated would work.  
  
She slammed down on the accelerator.  
  
The car's engine roared in reply. The vehicle accelerated. Ahead of them, energy began to form around the cane.  
  
Everyone in the car let out an involuntary scream.  
  
Just as the cane seemed to reach a peak energy spike, the car slammed into the being holding it. An explosion of viscous green mass covered the front of the car before sliding off and falling behind them.  
  
"You killed it," the girl in the back gasped.  
  
"I don't know if I did," Cat answered.  
  
"No, you didn't," Angel said. She was looking at her omnitool's scanner function. "It's already reforming."  
  
Cat checked her side view mirror. The green matter was flowing back toward the cane, now alone in the road. "We need to keep going," she said. "If we can get to that power source, we can call for help."  
  
The two people in the back nodded. Angel looked back to see they were holding hands. "How are you two…? Elton and Ursula, right?"  
  
"Right," answered Elton. His face was drawn and pale. "We're uh… well, we're…."  
  
"...as fine as can be, I think," Ursula finished for him. Her face was just as pale, and her eyeglasses were nearly ready to fall off.  
  
Angel nodded. "Right. So not fine at all." She turned back in her seat and checked the omnitool. "Okay, make a right up here. I think this will take us where we need to go."  
  
They made another turn, and further down another, and soon they were away from the small shops and apartment-style buildings and in a suburban neighborhood. The sisters had seen such a few times growing up, visiting relatives in Wichita and Kansas City, although there hadn't been much in the way of such housing in the wide open grain fields of rural Kansas and the small town they had called home.  
  
"Slow down," Angel urged, and Cat did so. Angel held up her forearm toward her left as houses went by, slower and slower. Finally she said, "Here, but keep going."  
  
Cat almost asked why but stopped herself. Their pursuer knew the car. Parking along the street would keep them from being easily discovered. She drove on for about three houses until she pulled the car along the curb and stopped.  
  
"We can't just leave the car in the middle of the street," protested Ursula. "The police will…"  
  
"We'll worry about the police _after_ we deal with the monster that wants to consume us." Angel checked the base of her back, where her pulse pistol was still in its hidden holster. To someone from this world it would look like a prop or a toy, which would be of help if they had to deal with local authorities.  
  
The four started to walk faster, and eventually jog, as they returned to the house they had determined was the source of the readings. "Are you sure this is a place to get help?" asked Elton. He looked up at the house, which looked to have three stories. "From something like that?"  
  
Caterina's omnitool flashed to life around her forearm. "This house is definitely the source of the power readings. Whatever is in there has to be powerful enough to break through this jamming."  
  
"I wonder if whoever lives here knows what they've got," Angel murmured. She led the four up to the door. Elton and Ursula kept an eye on the skies and on the road, as if any moment the monster might come back after them.  
  
When they got to the door Angel and Caterina exchanged looks. It was clear they might have quite a time explaining things to the occupant of the house. It would have been worse if they had come down in field uniform, but the mission had called for them to dig out their "21st Century" clothing. Angel was in her leather jacket and tan-colored blouse with blue jeans. Caterina, meanwhile, was in a comfortable blue T-shirt with the likeness of a lab-coat clad figure on the front holding a bubbling beaker, a comic book-style dialogue balloon above the figure proclaiming "This situation calls for SCIENCE!". Given all of the running they had done, Caterina was thankful she'd listened to her sister's advice, and that of her girlfriend Violeta, and worn the pair of black uniform trousers she had on instead of the skirts she normally favored.  
  
Angel looked over the front door and easily identified the doorbell. "This is going to be tough. How do we explain to someone that there might be super-advanced tech in their house and that we're being chased by some kind of shapeshifter monster thing?"  
  
"I'm… well, I'm not sure," Cat admitted, almost stuttering. She felt less comfortable now than she had trying to drive a vehicle on the left side of the road through the Greater London area.  
  
"Right. Let's do this." Angel hit the doorbell again.  
  
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Ursula asked. She and Elton were several steps behind.  
  
Angel and Cat looked at each other and nodded. "No," they answered in unison.  
  
A moment later the door opened.  
  
The occupant of the house was a woman, middle-aged, with light skin. Brown hair framed a face worn with age, with dark eyes that showed curiosity and intelligence. "Hello," she said. It was no surprise her accent was English, and her blue blouse and brown knee-length skirt were the kind of comfortable at-home wear one might expect a woman of her age and means to have.  
  
Angel glanced to Cat as she struggled to think of what to say. "Well, ma'am, we're…"  
  
"...it's going to s-sound crazy but we-we're, well, we're not from here and I don't m-mean w-we're not En-English or British o-or that," Cat began. Her cheeks were turning red and her speech was both stammered and rapid. Caterina couldn't keep the anxious look from her face. "And I'm rambling but you n-need to know that th-there's something h-her on your pr-property and w-we kind of n-need it to g-get help and th-there's this really…" Caterina stopped and took a breath.  
  
The woman watched patiently, more curious than confused or irritated.  
  
"This is going to sound insane but we're not from your Earth, we're interuniversal travelers who were sent to look into some strange energy readings here in London including one from your house…" Now Cat had enough control to stop stuttering, but she was talking rapid fire as if she were afraid to let the sentence stop. "...and we found this one thing in an old warehouse or something where these people were meeting and there was this monster that can absorb people and its after us and we really need to call for help but there's a jamming field over London that's blocking our communications and…"  
  
It was clear Cat was desperately out of breath. She stopped long enough to take in a breath and gave the house's resident time to speak. "It's alright, young lady, you'll be safe here," the woman answered. "What's your name?"  
  
"Caterina. Caterina Delgado. This is my sister Angel," Cat managed between more breaths. "And these people are Elton and Ursula, the monster is after them too."  
  
"Well, Caterina, my name is Sarah Jane Smith." The woman gestured for them to enter. "It looks like you and your sister have quite the story to tell…"  
  
  


**Undiscovered Frontier  
_"A Tale of Two Sisters"_**

  
  
  
  
The living room of the house was comfortably furnished; the resident clearly had money to spare. The sisters were in first, with their hostess holding the door open for Elton and Ursula. The latter two were still visibly shaken from the day's events. "If you'll give me a moment, I'll see about some tea." Sarah Jane gestured to her couch and chairs. "Go ahead and have a seat."  
  
"Ms. Smith, I don't mean to be rude, but there's something really nasty coming after us," Angel said. "And to get help we need to find the source of a power reading our scanners are picking up in your home. I know that might seem unbelievable…"  
  
"You don't need to be so formal, you can call me Sarah or Sarah Jane. As for unbelievable…" A knowing smile crossed the woman's face. "...I'm quite familiar with the unbelievable myself. So, when you say you're from a different universe, do you mean an alternate timeline or a completely different cosmos from mine?"  
  
"A different sixth-dimensional location," Caterina answered. "Or at least, if you're going by what we call the O'palani-Fujisawa Theory of Multiversal Dimensional Structure."  
  
Sarah Jane looked from Angel to Caterina. "Now that does sound new. And you say you can detect a strong power source in my home?"  
  
"Yes ma'am," Cat replied.  
  
"And what are you running from?"  
  
"Some kind of absorbing creature…"  
  
Before Angel could finish, Elton said, "The Absorbaloff."  
  
The two sisters and their hostess looked to him. "What?" they asked together.

"It's some kind of monster that, well, absorbs things," he continued. "It absorbed our friends."  
  
"And I figure it's going to find us and absorb us if we don't get to that power source," Angel insisted, trying to direct everyone back on track. "Whatever it is, if you just let us scan for it I'm sure we'll…"  
  
"I'm quite certain of what you're looking for," Sarah Jane said, interrupting her. "But I'd like to know what you intend to do with it."  
  
"Break through the jamming that's cutting us off from our ship," Cat replied. "And then we can call for help."  
  
"A ship you say? What kind?"  
  
Again Angel and Caterina exchanged wary looks. This wasn't at all what they imagined this conversation would be. At the same time, they knew there were rules about this sort of thing, rules they would break if they let Sarah Jane and Elton and Ursula know where they came from.  
  
"A gesture of trust is what I'm looking for," Sarah Jane explained. "Tell me where you come from and if I think you're being honest about it, I'll help you as best as I can."  
  
It was Caterina who spoke first. "We came here on a kilometer-long starship called the _Aurora_ that has an interuniversal jump drive. We're from the United Alliance of Systems and I'll tell you more, but please help us first, that absorbing creature was reforming when we last saw it and I don't know how easy it'll be for it to follow us."  
  
Angel looked at Cat with clear worry in her eyes. She'd just violated a host of regulations and rules about these situations. It could land her in deep trouble when they were home. But it was clear from the look in Cat's hazel eyes that she didn't care at the moment.  
  
It was surprising to both that Sarah Jane was so unflappable about it, as if this was nothing too far outside of her normal everyday experience. She seemed to be quietly pondering Cat's explanation. "Alright," she finally said. "Let me show you something." She looked to the couch where Elton and Ursula were holding hands and clearly trying to recover from severe fright. "When I get back, I'll get some tea for you."  
  
Angel and Cat exchanged quizzical looks before following Sarah Jane up the steps to the top floor of her cozy-looking home. They entered what looked to be an attic converted into an office space or study room. Sarah Jane stepped across the room and faced what looked like an old fireplace. "Mister Smith, I need you," she said, no urgency in her tone.  
  
At first the two expected a husband to show up from a hidden door or perhaps from a nearby chair they hadn't noticed. Instead there was a sudden mechanical noise. Pieces of wall and what they had thought was the converted fireplace shifted and separated, allowing a computer station to slide out into the room. The screen came on with an oscillating pattern. " _Yes, Miss Smith?_ " a computerized voice inquired.  
  
Angel and Cat exchanged shocked looks. Caterina immediately brought up her left forearm. Her omnitool appeared and she brought the scanner feature online, a specialized scanner more capable than Angel's.  
  
"We have guests today," said their hostess. "And they say a dangerous being may be pursuing them."  
  
" _Scanners detect an extraterrestrial energy pattern and life sign moving within a ten kilometer radius. It appears to be circling the area. I will activate defense mode for the house should the pattern appear to move toward us._ "  
  
"I don't believe this," Cat gasped, looking over her sensor readings. "This computer… the processing power, the storage medium… a neural pattern… how did you get something like this? Where?" The urgency of the situation had clearly given way to raw curiosity.  
  
"That is another secret, young lady, and a longer story," Sarah Jane answered, smiling. She noticed the omnitool. "That's an interesting device you have. A holographic interface?"  
  
"Yes, it's called an omnitool. It's from Universe M4P2." Cat lowered the arm and ceased her scans. "I'm sorry, I was just so curious about 'Mr. Smith'. This computer technology is some of the most advanced I've ever seen. And you've got some kind of complex neural network intelligence running it and I would just love to know more..."  
  
"How about we go down and get your friends some tea to calm their nerves." Sarah Jane smiled knowingly. "And then you can tell me more about where you came from."  
  
When they stepped out and got back to the stairs, Angel gave a wary look toward Caterina and stopped her while Sarah Jane started down them. "Cat, be careful," Angel warned. "There are rules and regulations about how much we can tell her."  
  
"I know, but think about it, Angel." Cat looked down the stairs, where Sarah Jane was already moving toward her kitchen, before facing her sister again. "That computer… it might be more advanced than the best Darglan computers we know about. Whoever Sarah Jane is, she clearly knows far more than any average person on this world. The risk of some society-warping revelation isn't that big a thing. And if we're going to get her to help us, we need to share trust. We showed some, she showed some."  
  
"And now we show more." Angel sighed and nodded. Caterina did make sense, even if Angel feared a Stellar Navy bureaucrat wouldn't make a distinction.  
  
They went down the stairs and found seats. Within a minute Sarah Jane came out of the kitchen with a platter of cups and a teapot and what looked like cookies. "Thankfully I had just made a pot. I've put another one on. And some biscuits if you're hungry." She finished pouring the cups and took the last seat, facing her four guests with an amiable look. "I'm sure you've had a busy day already, young ladies." She focused her eyes on the sisters. "Now, you said something about being with an alliance of systems, and a ship called the _Aurora_?"  
  
"Yeah, we're senior officers on the ship," Cat said.  
  
Sarah Jane gave her an intent, questioning look. "You're rather young."  
  
"Well, it's a very long, complicated story about how we got to that point," Angel said. "And it involves the foundation of the Alliance. Do you mind if we focus on why we're here, on your Earth? And what's happened?" She eyed a window. "Preferably before we get into trouble with whatever that thing was."  
  
"Absorbaloff," Elton said, eyeing his tea without drinking any.  
  
"I'm… I'm not calling it that," Angel said.  
  
"Let's go with why you're here," Sarah Jane said.  
  
"Alright." Angel sipped at the tea. The taste wasn't something she enjoyed, but after the stress and activity of the day, and the length of time since breakfast, she enjoyed the mere sensation of taste.  
  
Caterina was enjoying it far more, and happily chewed on one of the offered biscuits while waiting for Angel to begin.  
  
  
  
  
The void of space was suddenly disturbed by a blink of green light, light that expanded into a vortex of green energy. The _Starship Aurora_ emerged from the vortex, running lights proudly displaying her name and, along the ship's side, her registry number. The sleek kilometer long starship flew on from the point and turned toward the distant yellow spark that was Sol. Her four engine nacelles, arranged in a flat sideways X around the drive section of her hull, erupted in blue light. An instant later the ship was hurtling away from its arrival point at a speed faster than light.  
  
On the bridge of the ship, Caterina and Angel were in their customary positions, manning the Sensor and Tactical stations. Robert Dale and Julia Andreys, the ship's Captain and First Officer, were in their seats. Jarod was at Operations, Locarno at Navigation - in short, everyone was where they were supposed to be. And for good reason.  
  
"Nothing on long range sensors," Cat confirmed, and she was clearly trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. It had been three years since they were last in Universe Designate W8R4, and she would never forget what had happened the last time. Bringing that containment unit to the Facility had been her greatest mistake, and it had cost them all.  
  
Hearing Caterina's report gave those on the bridge some ease. "Well, at least we know that the Daleks aren't in this area," Robert said. "Maybe we'll be establishing a colony in W8R4 after all."  
  
"Let's make sure we don't pop the champagne bottles too early." Julia gave him an amused look. "We've got some surveying to do. Mister Locarno, what's our ETA to Earth's solar system?"  
  
Locarno confirmed that with a quick triple-check of his math. "We'll arrive at the safe scanning point during the overnight hours."  
  
Robert looked at Julia. "Go ahead and schedule our weekly meeting for 0830, then."  
  
Julia tapped keys at her console. "Done. I hope everyone gets a good rest. And don't bother with breakfast. Hargert says he's going to treat us."  
  
"Hargert always treats us," Jarod observed, smiling.  
  
  
  
  
When the bridge watch ended for the two sisters, Angela and Caterina both caught the turbolift. "Going to the Lookout?" Angel asked. "Or will you go for replicated dinner?"  
  
"Actually, Violeta and I are going to have a dinner date on the holodeck," Cat answered. "She has the reservation ready and everything."  
  
"Replicator food isn't my best idea of a date." Angel looked away briefly. "Take us to Deck 4."  
  
"Well, it's not all replicator food. Hargert let her use the kitchen for our desert. It's this chocolate fondue stuff and a cake."  
  
"Mom used to keep you from indulging that sweet tooth," Angel said. 'Maybe I should have too. Otherwise you might become my plump little sister."  
  
Cat laughed and shook her head. "Don't worry, we burn the calories away." After a moment Cat realized what she said, and what it could mean, and her cheeks turned to red. "Not like that!... well, sometimes like that. And sometimes both and..."  
  
Angel rolled her eyes. "Cat, while I'm happy you've found someone and I even like her, I _really_ don't need to hear about your sex life."  
  
"No, I mean, yes, Violeta and I make love sometimes, but sometimes we just cuddle, and we burn calories in the holodeck running _Ultimate Fantasy_." Cat noticed a sad look appearing on Angel's face. "You can still come, if you want. We have a spot for a monk."  
  
"I am not dressing up in that silly gown with that feather in my headband, it doesn't even _look_ like a proper kung fu monk outfit," Angel insisted. "And that's final."  
  
The turbolift door had opened by now. The sisters walked out of it and moved down the hall toward their quarters.  
  
"Oh, come on." Cat sighed. "Since you and Robert broke up, I thought you'd have more time to…" Caterina stopped speaking. Her hand went to her mouth, in recognition of what her thoughts had led her to say before the rest of her brain could tell her not to. "I'm sorry," she said.  
  
And she had reason to. A pained look came over Angel's face. "It was never going to last," she insisted. "It never does. I knew that going in."

Caterina nearly protested. This time she stopped herself. Nothing she could say would make Angel feel better. Desperately, she tried to change the subject completely. "Do you think we'll do any field team studies of Earth?"  
  
"It's a 21st Century Earth. And it's probably no different from any other," Angel said. "So no, I doubt we'll do any field team studies."  
  
"I wish we would," Cat said. "It's been awhile since I was on a field team."  
  
"The last time you beamed down for a field mission, it was the Gamma Piratus Facility, and the Nazis almost killed you."  
  
"Yeah. But a trip through a 21st Century town or city or whatever wouldn't have Nazis. Well, unless it was another timeline where they won or at least didn't get destroyed or something… what I guess I'm saying is I wouldn't mind getting to go on a field mission again."  
  
"The last time I was on a field mission, Cat, it was an unofficial one." Angel crossed her arms. "In fact, now that I think about it, I haven't done an official field mission since Rob took me and Lucy to infiltrate the _Mayala_."  
  
"Maybe we should ask to go together next time," Cat suggested. "Just for the chance to get off of the ship."  
  
"Maybe." Their walking had led them to Angel's quarters. "Listen, Cat, I appreciate that you want to make me feel loved and that I'm not spending all of my time alone now. But I want you to stop worrying about me. Go enjoy your time with Violeta. You've more than earned it." A grin crossed Angel's face before she gave her sister a peck of a kiss on her forehead.  
  
Caterina tried to think of what to say next, but there was no time. Angel shut the door of her quarters All Caterina could do was sigh and head on to her own quarters to get ready.  
  
  
  
  
Caterina was due for dinner, and was taking the moment to make sure she looked ready for it. Thus she was standing in front of the largest mirror in her quarters wearing the ocean blue evening dress that Violeta had bought her in Venice, a shimmering garment of silk and other materials that was cut below her shoulders, exposing her arms and shoulders completely while the rest hugged her body for support. Looking at herself in the mirror, Caterina had the thought that Violeta had picked out the dress for her because it showed she did, in fact, have curves, if not very prominent curves. A little pink came to her cheeks at that thought. The flutter in her heart had a different source: the idea that Violeta intentionally bought the dress to help Cat deal with her body image worries.  
  
The smile she was wearing was certainly proof of that, as was Caterina's appearance. She'd spent some time with makeup, more than she usually did, in the effort to look nice for the girlfriend who had been so thoughtful toward her.  
  
It was a short trip to Holodeck 3, mostly by turbolift to Deck 14. When she arrived the chamber was already active with a loaded program and a privacy lock. Putting in her personal code opened the door for Cat.  
  
She walked into a warm, comfortable environment, a restaurant patio with beautiful glass tables framed by hand-crafted iron stands. The chairs were similarly artisan-crafted, with leather seating. Mosaic tile beneath her feet depicted nature scenes from sunny oceans to forest-covered hills and mountains. A pair of moons, one silver and waxing almost to full and the other azure and in its last quarter, filled the night sky and gave the great bay and town encircling it a persistent halo of moonlight.  
  
The program was running several simulated diners, giving a further warmth to the locale. Caterina scanned around and found where Violeta was standing beside their table, a tray beside it with their meal and dessert. Violeta was in a backless dining dress, black with silver trim, with a single loop around her neck. When she turned it revealed the front of the dress. The loop was linked to the two sides of the dress, and that was only sides. It had no plunging neckline like other fancy dresses might, because to call it a "plunging" line would be an understatement. The "split", as it was, went all the way down to Violeta's navel. The dress flowed down from her waist to her heels, with splits along the sides. Violeta's hair, like hers, was short, but it still grabbed attention given its rich purple color, matched by the violet of her eyes.  
  
Caterina felt a lump in her throat. "You are stunning," was all she could manage while her cheeks turned pink. She felt suddenly self-conscious of her appearance and the nagging feeling that no amount of makeup or pretty dresses would ever make her someone close to Violeta in attractiveness. An old worry of being utterly unworthy of her girlfriend's affection stirred inside.  
  
Violeta stepped up and, with a gentle smile and a kiss, dispelled that thought. She took Caterina's hand. "You're just in time," she said. "And you look lovely." They walked to the table. "Do you mind if I have the system take some holo-images? My parents want to see more of us together."  
  
"They do?"  
  
"Of course. They're happy for us."  
  
"Oh, well, sure," Cat said. She nodded. "Take pictures if you want."  
  
"Thank you." Violeta was grinning widely. "Now for my secret. My parents send me care packages. Meals from home, or my favorite restaurants, packed in stasis containers to keep them fresh."  
  
Cat gasped at that. "That must cost them a lot."  
  
"Not as much as you think. Stasis generators are getting cheaper by the day." Violeta reached to the tray and took out three containers. "This is from Gregorio's Cafe and Bistro, which is what my holoprogram is re-creating for us. It's a fine Mediterranean cuisine restaurant in Pariana Cove. We have an apartment in town that we used for vacations when I was growing up." She gestured to the cove. "As much as I wanted to get out into space, if anything would bring me back to Sirius, it'd be Pariana Cove."  
  
"It reminds me of those little towns we saw along the Adriatic," Cat said.  
  
"That's right. And that's because the earliest settlers of Sirius' tertiary continent were from the Adriatic. Italians, Greeks, and Croats, some Montenegrins and Albanians. That's why they named the continent Adriatica. My father's family came from there." Violeta opened one of the food containers. Inside were warm breadsticks that smelled of butter, parmesan, and garlic. "Maybe when we can get an extended leave I can take you here. You can see it for yourself."  
  
"When we can get a leave. Whenever that happens." Cat sighed. As much as she was enjoying this, she felt a little rush of guilt, and she couldn't hide it.  
  
Violeta noticed it too. And she knew why. "You're still feeling bad for your sister, aren't you?"  
  
Cat nodded quietly. "I'm sorry," she said. "That's not fair to you."  
  
"I understand." Violeta ceased from opening the next food container for the moment. She reached across the table and took Cat's hand. "Cat, you don't have to feel guilty that you're worried about her."  
  
"That's…" Cat shook her head as she thought of what to say. "That's not why I feel this way. I guess I feel… I feel that part of it is my fault."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Because I'm not there for her as often as I used to be," Caterina explained. "I'm with you, and I'm happy, and I love being with you, and now it feels like I'm leaving Angel behind. Even though she's alone now."  
  
Violeta nodded. "I see. Did you invite her to…"  
  
"She won't play _Ultimate Fantasy_ with us. I've tried."  
  
"Maybe she wants to be alone then?"  
  
"I don't know… Maybe it's just that she doesn't want to cause us to have any problems. She's just looking out for me like that, even if it hurts her." Caterina shook her head. "Oh, I don't know. I'll talk to her later about it, but it's not fair to you that I ruin tonight because I'm worried about Angel. I'll talk to her later."  
  
Violeta nodded. "Fair enough." She opened the next container. "This is a sausage and spinach lasagna that is the best anyone will ever have…"  
  
  
  
  
Across Deck 14, Holodeck 5 was also active. Inside it was emulating a boggy forest, with thick fogs covering the ground around a set of ruins.  
  
A fierce growl echoed in the air, warning Angel to duck before the monstrous-looking alien with a head that was almost like a human skull swiped at her with a blade. She retaliated with a snap kick that knocked it off balance and a roundhouse kick to send it flying.  
  
Another monster was coming up behind her, looking like an overgrown ape. Angel ducked its blow and twisted with her elbow out, smashing it in the head with an elbow strike. She threw a punch that sent a spurt of pain through her knuckles but which also threw the creature onto its back.  
  
With both opponents down, Angel stood and took several breaths, her hands resting against her hips. She was in exercise wear - olive brown sports bra, black shorts, sneakers - with her long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail to keep it out of the way while she exercised her skills in a way that would certainly have drawn a remark or two from Zack or Barnes about her need to "beat things up".  
  
"It looks like that _mok'bara_ program wasn't the only thing Worf left us," a new voice said.  
  
Angel looked to where the entrance way, once-hidden, was now visible. Julia stepped in wearing the same kind of garments she was, save her shorts and sports bra were both of the same command branch burgundy red that her duty uniform had. The similar clothing did much to reveal the differences in their physiques. Julia's statuesque athletic build, her muscle lean in shape, was in contrast to the thick, developed muscle on Angel's limbs and belly. She had her vivid blond hair in the same ponytail she favored for standard duty.  
  
But while Angel was carrying nothing on her, Julia had a belt over her waist, with two rods hanging from it.  
  
Angel noted that before saying, "Yeah. I've been trying it a lot lately."  
  
"Well, beating the crap out of something has always been one of your favorite ways to relieve stress." Julia smiled at that. "I'm just happy it's not me."  
  
"I apologized for that bruised rib from last time."  
  
"So you did." Julia looked around. "So this is Worf's calisthenics program?"  
  
"He left it for me."  
  
"Well, he was aboard just long enough to get an idea of what you can be like," Julia noted. She looked around for another moment before looking down at the defeated enemies. "Looks like I'm late. You're already done."  
  
"I'm just getting started," Angel responded.  
  
"Mind if I join you?" Julia took the rods from her belt. "I've been working on my eskrima lately."  
  
"Really?" Angel nodded. "That Dorei girl?"  
  
Julia shrugged. "Seeing Druni fight reminded me of the couple of lessons I took years ago. I don't think I'll ever be a master at it, but Mr. Pembroke always said I shouldn't be afraid to learn new styles."  
  
"Just so long as you don't bring those things to our fights," Angel said.

"Of course not. So, ready?"  
  
"Computer, reset program." At Angel's command, her two defeated foes were back on their feet, side by side. Julia stepped up to Angel's left and brought her weapons up into a ready stance. "Begin."  
  
The two opponents started to shift and move. "So, who takes the ugly one?" Julia asked.  
  
At that Angel smirked. "That depends. Which one is the ugly one?"  
  
Julia answered with a smirk of her own. "Well, there's always eenie meenie…"  
  
Before she could finish, the computer sent the two foes at them. The one with the skull head went for Julia, leaving the furry one for Angel. She ducked its first blow, which was high and too wild, and retaliated with a punch to the mid-section that stunned the creature for long enough that she could follow up with a knee smash to its forehead.  
  
Beside her Julia sidestepped and evaded two blows from the other monster before she slammed one of the eskrima sticks into its arm at the shoulder. It favored that limb as it stepped back a moment. Julia braced herself and waited for the renewed attack. When it came she blocked two punches with her weapons before the creature opened itself up. Julia kicked it in the knee to bring it down to a knee. The moment it was she smacked it in the head with both weapons, one loud crack following the next seconds later. Her opponent collapsed.  
  
Angel had her foe by the arm. She twisted it in place to force the furry thing to its knees and delivered an elbow chop to its upper arm with enough force that a human being might have had their arm or shoulder broken by the blow. She followed up by a kick to the neck and head that knocked her foe out.  
  
Julia sucked in a deep breath and crossed her arms. "Well, that was quick."  
  
"Too quick." Angel looked over to her. "Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure. You _can_ ask anything." A sly grin crossed Julia's face. "You didn't ask if you _may_ , though, so I might not answer."  
  
"For that grammar nazi behavior, I really should slap you," Angel retorted. She was grinning regardless. But the grin soon took a serious edge to it. "Are you going tell Maran 'yes'?"  
  
To that, Julia remained silent for a moment. "I'm thinking about it, and that's all I can really say," she admitted.  
  
"Right."  
  
"Why do you ask?"  
  
"I was just thinking." Angel's hazel eyes had a distant look to them, at least to Julia's perspective. "I mean, Rob and I are done for good. That's pretty clear. And Cat's got a girlfriend now and doesn't need her big sister hovering over her all the time. Zack's got his ship and Clara, Tom's got whatever he does, and Leo is Leo and always doing his own thing with medicine. And Lucy's… well, she's doing the life powers thing with Rob… I guess what I'm saying is that if you go… I've got nothing here."  
  
Julia remained silent at that.  
  
"Training with you, sparring with you, it's like that's all I've got left for a personal life," Angel confessed. And despite the usual rough edge to her tone, Julia thought there was a real vulnerability that was making her voice waver. "So if you go and become captain of the _Enterprise_ …"  
  
"You want to come with me?" Julia asked.  
  
Angel remained silent for a moment. "Maybe," she said. "Likely."  
  
Julia nodded at that. "I'll let you know if I say yes to Maran, then. And I'll tell him you're one of my picks for my senior staff."  
  
"Thanks." The word felt almost hollow. Like a part of Angel had wanted her to say no. But she hadn't, and now Angel, despite the answers of "maybe" and "likely", felt committed. She wasn't sure she liked that. She drew in a breath and frowned. "Hell, that was too easy. Want me to turn up the difficulty?"  
  
"Sure, I'm game."  
  
"Just don't complain about the bruises." With that remark, Angel was grinning again.  
  
  
  
  
A tone woke Caterina up. She opened her eyes in the groggy fashion you'd expect from someone who had enjoyed fine wine for dinner. A lock of purple hair dominated her vision . Violeta was laying against her and stirring slightly as well.  
  
The tone went off again, piercing the sleepiness that was keeping Caterina from awakening fully. She twisted away from the warmth of her girlfriend and reached over with an arm to her nightstand, where the small elbow-band and wristband that were the physical accoutrements of her advanced omnitool. The wristband had a bright light shining over it. She hit it. "Uh… Delgado here."  
  
" _I'm sorry for waking you, Lieutenant_." It was Ensign Popov, a young Russian man who served as Gamma Shift's sensor officer. " _But we just arrived at our scan point and we're getting some bizarre readings. I think you should see this._ "  
  
"Well, where are they coming from?" Cat asked.  
  
" _From Earth_."  
  
Cat sat up in bed. For them to call her at this time of night over this meant this wasn't just some random energy surge. There was something truly out of the ordinary going on. And given what universe they were in, that could mean trouble. If there was even the slightest chance of the Daleks finding them… No, she couldn't think like that.  
  
"Let me get ready, I'll be in Science Lab 1 as soon as I can," Cat said. The time on her nightstand showed it was 0430 ship time. She yawned as she climbed out of bed, bound for the shower and Science Lab 1.  
  
  
  
  
When Angel woke up, it was just past 0500. It had not been a restful sleep for her. Many of them these days weren't. She'd seen too much, heard too much, _done_ too much. Tonight her dreams had been bad. Dreams of being a child, of Cat missing in a store and her mother yelling at her, accusing her of letting Cat get into trouble, of not protecting her when she needed it. " _You have let me down_ ," she heard her father declare, in a voice she hadn't heard since she was a little girl. " _We needed you to be stronger_."  
  
Now Angel was sitting upright in her bed, alone. The images in her head took time to fade away. Images of Cat dead or hurt, images of Rob, of the others.  
  
By all rights she shouldn't care about Rob right now. She'd opened herself to him again and once more he'd let other things come between them. The cycle had continued on. But now she meant to break it. She wasn't going to waste time on a relationship going nowhere, not when they faced potential death out here.  
  
_Which is why I should act like everything is normal. Like I did before we got back together. No sulking, no refusing to be around him. It's over, for good. Just be his friend._  
  
It didn't hurt, or help, that she still cared so deeply for him.  
  
"To hell with this," Angel finally muttered to herself. She stood and went for the shower. There was still a couple of hours before the staff meeting, more than enough time to get some practice in at the punching bags.  
  
  
  
  
When everyone gathered for the morning's staff meeting, it was obvious that Caterina had already been up for hours. She immediately took offered coffee from Hargert while his assistants laid out a variety of breakfast selections for them; breakfast ham and bacon, eggs made in various ways, hashed potatoes, toast and breakfast rolls with a variety of jellies or butter to put them with.  
  
"You said something about unfamiliar energy signatures from Earth?" Julia asked, sipping at her own coffee.  
  
"Yes." Caterina put hers down. She tapped a key and activated the monitor display, showing a variety of energy signatures in the form of wave and oscillation patterns. "It's not just one either. I mean, we've got evidence of hyperspace taps. We've got subspace ripple effects consistent with advanced energy generation. I'm even picking up fluctuations consistent with a tear in space-time. There's more than one kind of advanced technology in evidence on this Earth, even though our scans confirm that the cities, population spread, and atmospheric state are all consistent with an average Earth of the early 21st Century."  
  
"Why didn't we see this before?" Julia asked Caterina. "We profiled this Earth years ago."  
  
"With the _Kelley_ , and using long range probes," Jarod said as reminder. "The sensors built into the _Aurora_ are more sophisticated."  
  
"Not to mention we weren't looking for these kinds of anomalies back then, we were more interested in finding out if there were any problems we could get involved with." Robert looked back to the readings. "This is definitely something to investigate further. Admiral Maran and Secretary Saratova are looking for anything that would complicate placing colonies in this universe. Finding out there is active, advanced alien involvement on Earth falls under that."  
  
"Well, we could get closer, but there's no telling what sensors they might have looking this way."  
  
"Aye." Scott nodded at Jarod's words. "They cud be seein' th' _Aurora_ right now for all we know."  
  
"Any suggestions, Scotty?" Robert asked him.  
  
"We definitely need t' stay out o' Earth's orbit," Scott replied. "I wud suggest th' far side o' th' Moon. Or even Martian orbit."  
  
"And then what, we use probes?" Julia asked.  
  
"No, I dinnae think that will give us what we need." Scott looked deep in thought for a moment. "Some o' th' runabouts with cloaking systems might work. They're small enough that they're hard t' detect if we're careful."  
  
Julia asked, "So we use runabouts to ferry field teams?"  
  
"Aye, that's what we need. We investigate th' sources o' these transmissions on th' ground. Carefully. Maybe then we can see what we're dealin' with."  
  
Robert and Julia exchanged looks. "Alright," Robert said. "Julia will draw up the field teams we're sending down. We use teams of two in constant communication with a runabout equipped appropriately."  
  
"The _Bastilone_ should work," Kane suggested. "She's made for infiltration ops."  
  
"I want to pair off one science or engineering expert with one bodyguard." Seeing the look on Julia's face, Robert nodded. "Julia will be in direct command from the _Bastilone_ while I keep the ship near Mars."  
  
"We're the best suited for something like this," Jarod said. "This is our native century. With a couple of exceptions." Jarod needn't nod toward Scotty or Locarno to elaborate.  
  
"I'll go down," Cat announced. "I really want to get a first hand look at what's down there."  
  
Angel tried to stop the sigh that resulted. It was clear to Robert and Julia that she didn't want her sister going down. "Well, you're our science officer," Julia said, "And this is the sort of field mission we want you on. So yes, of course you're going."  
  
"I'd like to go too," Angel announced. "To protect Cat, or whoever else you want to pair me with." Seeing the looks, she added, "I haven't done an official field mission in a year and a half. It's my time to contribute."  
  
"Generally speaking, as the tactical officer we usually need you at tactical," Robert reminded her gently. "But since we're likely to not face any problems in space, I agree."  
  
"Jarod, Tom, you're both going down as well." Julia looked to Kane and Meridina. "As are you two. And Lucy, of course. We'll report to the shuttle bay at 1200 hours. Cat, go ahead and get another science officer to join us for a fifth team."  
  
"I will assign an officer to go with Lucy," Meridina said.  
  
"It sounds like you've got everything in hand," Robert said to Julia.  
  
"Almost." Julia looked back to the others. "I'll repeat this in the runabout for those who aren't here, but for our benefit, remember: we're skirting the laws of the Alliance with this mission. Admiral Maran's orders allow us to make a survey like this, but contact regulations still apply. W8R4 Earth falls under the contact limitations regulations of the Stellar Navy and the Pre-Spaceflight Societal Protection Act. Whatever happens, we can't talk about who we are or what we are to anyone down there. We can't do anything that might overtly impact the development of this Earth."  
  
"Right," Caterina said. "We don't tell anyone we're explorers from another universe who fly in a starship with interuniversal drive. Or we get in trouble."  
  
"Exactly. If that has to happen, it needs to come from me or from Robert. And I doubt it'll be necessary." Julia looked to Robert. "Is there anything else?"  
  
He shook his head. "No. That does it on this matter. Let's finish breakfast and then you can get ready for the mission. I'll send a report back to Admiral Maran before you go."  
  
"Oh, good." Caterina drank more coffee and went to the cart of breakfast dishes Hargert's assistants had rolled in. "Because I'm starving."  
  
  
  
  
There was a content look on Cat's face as she finished one of the offered biscuits. Angel, on the other hand, had only sipped at the offered tea.  
  
"So you're actually from a spaceship?" Elton asked.  
  
"And another universe?" Ursula added.  
  
Angel signed and looked to Cat, who shrugged. "Yes," she sighed, nodding. "I mean, I figured the pulse pistol and the omnitools gave something away…"  
  
"I can see why your Alliance has such rules," Sarah Jane noted. "Knowledge of the wider universe, or Multiverse I should say, would have a severe impact on our world."  
  
"So says the lady with the alien computer," Angel answered.  
  
A gentle smile came to the Englishwoman's face. "Yes. I am not your average person in these matters, I admit. I've had my share of encounters with alien beings and civilizations." Sarah Jane looked to Caterina. "I do appreciate your concerns with speaking to me about this, though."  
  
"So you'll help us?" Cat asked. "Because we need to get ahold of the _Bastilone_. Julia, I mean, Commander Andreys can get Ursula and Elton to safety, and we might have the firepower to take down this… Absorbaloff thing."  
  
"That is a dumb name," Angel sighed, shaking her head.  
  
"I'll assist you, yes." Sarah Jane stood. "Please follow me."  
  
"I'll stay down here and keep an eye on things," Angel said. She looked around the house, as if she expected the absorbing creature to pop through the wall.  
  
Caterina, meanwhile, followed Sarah Jane back up the stairs. "So your ship detected this creature from that far out?" Sarah Jane asked.  
  
"Oh, no. We didn't pick up the absorbing monster in any way until we were already in London."  
  
"What I'd like to know is why it's after two ordinary Londoners." Sarah Jane stepped into her attic with Cat behind her. "Mister Smith, are there any updates?"  
  
" _The anomalous power source is still in this area and has reduced its search pattern. I believe it may be narrowing in on our location._ "  
  
"Thank you, Mister Smith. And I need you to act as a relay for a message this young lady is trying to send."  
  
"I'll tie in my omnitool to your system," Cat said. "And give you the information to make the call I need."  
  
" _Very well. Accessing communications protocols_."  
  
As Cat's omnitool linked to the alien supercomputer, Cat watched it with wide open eyes and a wider grin. "This is so _cool_ ," she breathed.  
  
"It is quite impressive, yes."  
  
Cat looked around the room. She could see some of the items were not of Earthly origin either. "I could spend hours in here just to see what else you have," Caterina admitted. "I love finding these things. Seeing new planets, new species, for the first time."  
  
The smile on Sarah Jane's face was one of fond memories, memories touched with a taste of bitterness, if only because they were the kind of thing she would presumably never do again. "I've seen things that few people have ever imagined," she said. "It never gets old."  
  
"There's so much to explore. So much to see. I'll never see it all, I mean, but at least I'll see more." Cat looked to her omnitool, which flashed on again. "It looks like I'm connecting partially to the _Bastilone_ , but the jamming is a lot stronger than I thought."  
  
"Do you know where the jamming is coming from?" Sarah Jane asked.  
  
"No," Cat replied.  
  
" _It appears to be a blanket subspace interference pattern, backed by electronic disturbance to deflect radio waves_ ," Mr. Smith stated. " _My analysis of your communications protocols confirms that the jamming is particularly suited to stopping your systems._ "  
  
"It seems that someone already knows about your Alliance," Sarah Jane remarked.  
  
"I'm not sure who," Cat answered. "We haven't had anything to do with this universe in years. All we did was send probes before. Do you have any idea who it can be?"  
  
"I do have a couple of ideas. I need to make a phone call."  
  
Caterina nodded and turned back to Mr. Smith while Sarah Jane went to get the phone. "Can you show me this interference pattern?" she asked.  
  
" _Displaying now_."  
  
When the information appeared on the screen Cat activated her omnitool and brought up her communication functions. "I might be able to alter…"  
  
Caterina was turning to the side, and thus toward the one window in the attic, when she saw the distant shape. A shape that soon was not so distant. She barely had time to jump away from the window before something crashed through it, sending glass flying all through the attic.  
  
Cat scrambled madly to her feet while the green mass now on the attic floor coalesced into a heavy set human form, the same one she had run over earlier. He brought the cane in his hand over toward her. "Well, quite the chase you have given me," he said, his voice deceptively Human.  
  
"What are you?"  
  
"You'll know soon enough." At its tip, the cane started to glow. "You'll be a part of something much greater, and I will find out just who and what you are."  
  
Caterina brought her arm up and hit a key on her omnitool. It activated the personal forcefield generator attached to her belt just as the cane finished charging. The pale light that swept toward her was stopped by the crackle of brighter blue light.  
  
"I'm going to enjoy this," the being said. "That field can't save you."  
  
And indeed it couldn't. Caterina's omnitool confirmed that whatever energy the cane was using, however it worked, it was disrupting her protective field. It wasn't going to run out of power, it was just going to fail.  
  
And then she would be absorbed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angela and Caterina help a group of alien-seeking 21st Century Londoners being stalked by an alien monster.

This was not what Cat had been expecting for her first field mission in months. Instead of quietly finding a signal in London likely to come from crashed alien technology or some other problem, she and Angel had ended up in the company of two local people being chased by a blob monster or something that sucked people into itself.  
  
And now that same monster was going to suck _her_ in.  
  
Her omnitool warned Cat she had moments, if that, before the monster's bizarre cane could work its grotesque function. And then she would be dead, or trapped in some conscious way inside of the creature. She had to do something.  
  
Her eyes set on her omnitool. She remembered their briefing on them, on their functions and capabilities, two months ago when they were being issued. They'd been issued in the place of multidevices not simply because they were almost entirely hard-light constructs, and thus much lighter, but because that meant they could generate hard-light machinery or hardware to fulfill a function. They could access their microfusion cores to generate thermal energy and convert it into bursts of flame, create electrical fields, intense cold, and a few other functions.  
  
Cat knew she didn't have time for much, and her science model omnitool didn't include all of these defense capabilities… but it had at least one. She curled her fingers slightly, triggering the omnitool to activate that capability. A crackling burst of what looked like electricity shot from the blue hard-light construct around her and struck the creature. A stunned look came to the stout face and the cane came down as it shrieked in pain and frustration. Caterina scrambled back to her feet and went for the door.  
  
Sarah Jane and Angel came through it first. Angel pulled the pulse pistol from the small of her back and pointed it toward the thing. Blue-white pulses of energy smacked it repeatedly. Light, Caucasian-style skin began to turn green, as did his clothing.  
  
But it wasn't enough. The creature, now snarling, brought that cane over. His eyes swept across the wall and in their direction.  
  
As it did, Angel fired again, feeling she had little better to do. It did nothing.  
  
Cat peeked Sarah Jane's way. She was surprised to see the Englishwoman had pulled out a tube of lipstick. "What…?"  
  
Before she could finish the sentence, Sara Jane twisted the base. But instead of a bar of lipstick, what came out was the tip of a device of some sort, with a red-tinted diode. She held it toward the creature and the light lit up in a gentle red light. There was a brief whir in the air.  
  
The cane in the creature's hand suddenly sparked. He noticed it and, for the first time, a truly fearful, panicked look came to it. It turned and briefly became an amorphous blob of green before it had shifted again, this time into a great bird. It shot for the window, pulling its sparking cane with it.  
  
For a moment nobody moved. "What… what did you do?" Cat asked Sarah Jane. "What is that?"  
  
She smiled thinly. "A gift from a friend. A sonic device."  
  
"So it uses sonic waves to…?"  
  
"To do all sorts of things, actually," Sarah Jane said.  
  
Angel returned her gun to its small-of-back holster. She turned toward them. "Okay, what just happened?"  
  
"Your device messed up that thing's cane, or whatever absorbing technology is in it." Cat was still staring at the lipstick tube, which Sarah Jane was returning the cap to. "And the absorber is so important to it that it ran. Even when the pistol wasn't working."  
  
"It uses the cane to absorb things?"  
  
"Well…" Cat nodded. "Yeah. Or at least it did when we found it."  
  
"First things first," Angel said. "Were you able to get a hold of the _Bastilone_? Or even the _Aurora_?"  
  
Cat shook her head. "The jamming interference is keeping us from getting a stable signal out. I've got the omnitool's processor examining the jamming to see if we can find a frequency or something that goes through it, but it's going to take time."  
  
" _I will be analyzing the field as well_ ," stated the computer.  
  
"In the meantime, I'd like to hear more about what happened." Sarah Jane went to the door. "I'll be back shortly. Mister Smith, please conceal yourself."  
  
" _Of course, Miss Smith_ ," the computer answered. " _I will inform you if I find a way through the jamming field._ " The machine pulled back into its hiding place. Cat muttered, "That is so cool" while Sarah Jane left the room.  
  
When she was gone Angel went straight to Cat and embraced her. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Did that thing hurt you?"  
  
"No. No, I'm fine," Cat insisted. She didn't resist the embrace, but after a moment she pulled away. "Our personal forcefields can resist the absorption effect briefly, but it was starting to bypass my field before I used a neural shock on it."  
  
Angel had a look of some surprise on her face. Cat was evidently not thinking about it, but for Angel, it was a shock to have Cat pull away from a supportive hug so quickly. She said nothing on that feeling, however, instead saying, "There's way more to this lady than it looks like. But I'm not sure how much more we should share with her."  
  
"Well, it's clear we're not causing any harm by being here, she clearly has her own extraterrestrial technology," Cat pointed out. "And we already told her where we're from. There's no harm in continuing to explain how the day's gone for us."  
  
"Badly, for the most part," Angel muttered. "I just feel uncomfortable about this. And that jamming field, it just doesn't fit…"  
  
Angel let that thought hang in the air between them without saying more, given she already heard the footsteps coming up the stairs. Moments later Sarah Jane entered with Elton and Ursula behind her. Both seemed to have regained some of their composure, even if they were clearly bewildered and scared. "It found us, didn't it?" Elton asked. "What's why the window broke."  
  
"Yes, but we scared it off," Sarah Jane said. She brought them to a couch, showed a couple more old chairs for the sisters to take, and took a final chair for herself. "Now, I'd like to hear you continue your story," she said to the sisters.  
  
Cat nodded. "Okay…"  
  
  
  
  
It was just a few minutes before 1200 ship time when Caterina came running into the shuttle bay. Much to her chagrin, everyone else was already present. "I'm not late, am I? I was just double-checking those scanner results we got and making sure my omnitool had them loaded and picking something to fit in..." Cat stopped at seeing the bemused expression on their faces.  
  
"It's fine, Cat," Julia promised her. "Let's get going." She nodded to Commander Kane, who took the lead in stepping into the _Bastilone_. Once aboard Lucy almost went to the helm station, if only by habit, but was stopped by the presence of Violeta. She smiled back toward them and especially to Cat, who smiled back. When she turned and saw the knowing smile on Lucy's face, Caterina's cheeks began to turn red.  
  
"I've got a full crew up here," Julia said, looking to Violeta and to the purple-skinned male Dorei officer in ops beige at the systems control station behind and beside Violeta. Julia slipped into the co-pilot seat beside the ensign. "How are our pre-flight checks?" she asked Violeta.  
  
"Everything is clear," Violeta replied.  
  
"The cloaking device is ready," the Dorei lieutenant at Ops said. Julia recalled his name was Havath, but she couldn't think of his first name.  
  
At the specialized engineering station was a young Turkish woman, Ensign Turkoglu, who added, "Fusion reactors online, impulse drives ready. I can bring the naqia reactor and warp drive online if necessary."  
  
"Hopefully that won't be." Julia hit a key on her station. " _Bastilone_ to _Aurora_ , we're preparing to depart."  
  
From the back of the control area of the lander runabout, Cat heard Lieutenant Jupap reply, in that chirping way common with Alakin speech, " _You're cleared for launch,_ Bastilone."  
  
With the runabout launching Caterina slid into the back jump seat, or rather observation seat. Lucy was the only other one up here, while Angel had gone to the back. They said nothing while the launch went off without a problem. The _Bastilone_ gently pushed itself from the shuttle bay of the _Aurora_ with its own thrusters. Once it was out, now behind where the dorsal side of the primary hull slanted downward for over fifty meters before reaching the dorsal side of the secondary hull, the runabout's impulse drives quickly accelerated it away. It shimmered out of sight once Havath engaged the cloaking device.  
  
Once they were launched Lucy turned to Cat. "I didn't meant to embarrass you," she said.  
  
"Huh? What?" Cat looked to Lucy in confusion. "You didn't embarrass me. I mean, not entirely… I just realized what it looked like and I was a little…"  
  
Lucy set a friendly hand on Cat's shoulder. "No, you don't have to defend yourself. It's love. You deserve it."  
  
"Everyone says that, but I still wonder what it means. I mean, if someone can 'deserve' to be loved like that." Caterina held out her hand and gestured toward Lucy. "You deserve it too. You've been through just as many terrible things as I have."  
  
Lucy smiled thinly at that. "Maybe. Honestly, I've never really thought about romantic attachments. It's always something that happens to someone else."  
  
"I know what you mean." Cat nodded at her. "I used to be like that. Being with Violeta… it makes me feel so happy, and it makes me realize how alone I was."  
  
"Thankfully I'm never quite 'alone'," Lucy said. "Between training and work, I'm always with people."  
  
"But you can still be alone. I mean, it's so different for me now." Seeing the thoughtful look on Lucy's face, Cat narrowed her eyes. "I mean, I guess you could be, what is it? Asexual?"  
  
At that Lucy broke out into giggling. "I thought I was at one point," Lucy admitted. "But no. I feel the same urges others do. I just… don't feel them the same way, I guess? Or I have my own ideas on what I want. I guess that's true."  
  
"You mean on what kind of guy you want to be with?" A look came to Cat's face as a thought crossed her mind. "Or girl, I suppose. Or even something else. I mean, I know there's things like gender-fluid or two-spirited or…"  
  
"It's nothing like that, Cat," Lucy sighed. "I mean, I guess I'm open on things. If I fall in love with someone, their gender won't matter. I just don't know if that'll happen soon. I mean, if I'll meet someone…"  
  
"I'm sure you will,," Cat assured her. "Just like I did." As Cat said that, she looked up to the helm and smiled warmly while her girlfriend remained focused on her piloting work.  
  
  
  
  
In the passenger compartment, Angel remained still in the jump seat that was normally for armor-clad Marines preparing for a hot drop or insertion. She checked the holster at her back and then her omnitool.  
  
"So, ready to get back into the field?" Barnes plopped down next to her.  
  
"Yeah, I am," she replied simply.  
  
"Right." For several moments nothing was said. "So, are you going to the _Enterprise_?"  
  
Angel looked at him with an annoyed, confused expression. "What?" she asked bluntly and plainly.  
  
"Well, with Julia getting a new ship, I figured you'd want to go over to keep your fighting buddy," Barnes answered. "Scotty's thinking about it, I think. He's been having me take turns in running Engineering directly. I guess he's getting me ready to be the Chief Engineer."  
  
"Julia hasn't said 'yes' yet," Angel reminded him. As she did she almost wondered if he had been spying on the two of them the previous night. _Is it that obvious?_  
  
"Oh, like she's not going to," Barnes replied. "You know Julia. She wants the big chair. She just doesn't want to push Rob away to get it. And now Maran's offering her one. A new ship, just like the _Aurora_. You don't think she'll say no, do you?"  
  
Angel almost said just that, but she stopped herself. Julia wasn't power mad or anything like that, but she did like being the leader. It had been clear to Angel that Julia was seriously considering it. "I suppose she won't," Angel admitted. "But I'm not sure she will in the end. The _Aurora_ is her baby too, in a way. I mean, she named the ship, she made sure that Farmer and Scotty and you got the resources to keep construction going…"  
  
"Point. But she'd never drive Rob off. This is her chance to be a captain, and I know she'll take it," Barnes answered. "So, you going to see about going with her? Maybe she'll want you as her XO or something."  
  
"I'm not command material," was Angel's instinctive reaction.  
  
"Then she'll have you at tactical."  
  
Angel sighed and looked over at him. "Just why are you hung up on this, Tom?"  
  
"I dunno." He shrugged. "I guess I'm just sort of shocked. It's like the gang's splitting up."  
  
"These things happen. People change. Our relationships change."  
  
"Yeah. You and Rob."  
  
Angel didn't bother responding to that. And Barnes, much to her pleasure, didn't say more.  
  
  
  
  
The _Bastilone_ arrived over Earth and assumed a polar orbit. The ship remained cloaked and undetectable. Inside of the troop compartment, Julia and Caterina were using their omnitools to give the briefing and assign the teams.  
  
"...and that leaves our last two teams," Julia was saying. "There's a spatial fracture somewhere in Cardiff that we need to investigate. Tom, I'm pairing you with Meridina for that one."  
  
Barnes chuckled. "You're sticking the wiseass with the stoic monk lady?"  
  
"I am not sure that is accurate," Meridina said, her voice speaking with the slow, lilting accent Gersallians often had when using English. "The word 'wiseass' implies wisdom. I am not sure that is a word that fits you, Lieutenant Barnes."  
  
From her seat, Lucy began to giggle.  
  
For his part, Barnes clutched at his chest. "Oh, burn. Ow. Yeah, I forget you have a sense of humor sometimes."  
  
Julia shook her head while grinning. "Alright. You two are beaming down to Cardiff. And that leaves our Delgado sisters." Julia nodded to Angel and then looked to Cat. "You and Angel will go to London to find that intermittent power signature."  
  
"Cool."  
  
"So, Commander, some of us will need ground transport down there," Kane said. "What do you want us to do?"  
  
Julia nodded to Caterina, who tapped several keys. "I'm sending replicator patterns to the hard-light fabricators for your omni-tools. It'll let you replicate any cash you need by yourself. Then you can pay fares. Or even buy a car I suppose."  
  
"That might be a little too obvious." Julia smiled nevertheless. "Just remember the contact limitations. Find what you can about your assigned anomaly and report back as soon as possible."  
  
Everyone replied with nods and "Yes, Commander".  
  
  
  
  
Cat and Angel were set to beam down last. Julia was doing the honors at the transporter controls. "I've always wondered what London would be like," Cat admits. "They've got some science museums and stuff."  
  
"I always imagined it was this place with eternal fog." Angel looked to Julia. "Where are you setting us down?"  
  
"I've scanned an alleyway in the modern downtown district," Julia answered. "There won't be any witnesses that way."  
  
"What about a bathroom somewhere?"  
  
"These sensors aren't so precise that I can tell the difference between a ladies' room and a men's," Julia said. "And frankly, I'm not that good at this, so we're doing something easy."  
  
"Well, here's hoping you don't smudge our molecules together…"  
  
Julia frowned playfully at Angel, who smirked back at her from the transporter pad. "Down you go." Julia triggered the transporter.  
  
White light filled the sisters' vision. When it receded, they were in the middle of an alleyway. A dumpster to one side was half-full. "Well, here we are," Cat said. "London. And you know, I could probably replicate enough big bills that we could see about renting a vehicle. All we'd need is fake IDs, and I can make those too."  
  
"Yeah, well, I don't feel like driving on the wrong side of the road," Angel replied. "So, what do your scans say?"  
  
Caterina activated her omnitool. "Hrm. That's odd."  
  
"What?"  
  
"There's two sources now," Cat said. "It looks like one wasn't detectable from orbit."  
  
Angel activated her omnitool and said, "Delgado to Andreys. Cat says we've got a second signature down here. Orders?"  
  
" _Investigate them both_ ," was Julia's reply.  
  
"Alright. Delgado out." Angel lowered her arm and her omnitool deactivated its interface. She glanced around to see if anyone was looking their way and, more importantly, at Cat's active omnitool. "What's the closest?"  
  
"Hrm. Going by the map of London, it looks like it's in a suburb. A building, bigger than a house, maybe a warehouse or something." Cat tapped a key on her omnitool and the micro-fabricators fired up. Energy coalesced into a map of London with their destination marked. "There. Now we can just consult the map and we don't have to worry about anyone watching us use the omnitool."  
  
"Good. Now let's go get a bus or a taxi or something."  
  
"I'll start making us money then." Cat grinned at that. "Although does that make us counterfeiters?"  
  
"Let's not talk about that in public."  
  
"Okay. I'm just hoping we get to ride those cool double-decker buses London is supposed to have…"  
  
  
  
  
The tale was interrupted by a knock coming from downstairs. Elton and Ursula nearly jumped from their chairs. "You weren't expecting anyone, were you?" Angel asked Sarah Jane.  
  
"No, I'm not."  
  
Angel nodded. She reached to the small of her back and pulled her pistol. "I'll back you up."  
  
"And if they see you?"  
  
"We have personal cloaking systems. They won't as long as they're not here too long."  
  
"How much time do we have left on those?" Caterina asked her.  
  
"Enough." Angel looked again to Sarah Jane, who walked ahead to the door.  
  
Once they were out Sarah Jane said, "You're awfully fast to draw that, aren't you?"  
  
"I prefer my fists, but not with that thing. If it's a human threat, that's what the stun setting is for."  
  
"It can stun too, then? That actually makes me feel better."  
  
Once they were downstairs Angel tapped the device on her belt and shimmered out of view. Sarah Jane continued on to the door.  
  
Two men were at the door, dressed in business suits that made their government affiliation fairly obvious. "Good day, ma'am." One produced a badge in a leather walled. "I'm Inspector Wallbridge, this is Inspector Graham. We are on detachment from the Metropolitan Police. Do you know anything about the abandoned car down the street?"  
  
"An abandoned car?" Sarah Jane shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't, Inspector."  
  
The two looked at each other. "Perhaps if we came in? We have reason to believe that the driver and passengers are involved with an incident."  
  
"As I said, I am alone." An edge came to her voice. "Furthermore, I am familiar with the Metropolitan Police, and your badge is faked. I don't know what this is about, but I won't have you barging into my home, whoever you are."  
  
The pleasant facade of the two men clearly drained away. "This is a matter of national security," he said.  
  
"Do you have a court warrant?"  
  
It was evident they didn't. Angel saw the way they looked at each other and could tell they were thinking of forcing their way in. But they evidently decided not to. "We will note your lack of cooperation, Miss Smith," said "Graham". They turned and promptly walked away.  
  
Sarah Jane closed the door. Angel could see she was irritated, even more than Angel would expect her to be. "They looked government to me."  
  
"Yes. And there is more than one branch that might deal with an extraterrestrial threat." Sarah Jane picked up her wireless phone from its cradle. "I have a call to make. I'll join you upstairs as soon as I'm done."  
  
Angel nodded and went to the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angela and Caterina help a group of alien-seeking 21st Century Londoners being stalked by an alien monster.

There was quiet in Sarah Jane's attic. Quiet that, for one thing, helped Caterina focus on her work. "This jamming is _really_ good, she said to Angel. "I'm trying everything I can think of and I still can't get a signal out."  
  
"How widespread is it?" Angel asked. "Maybe it's planetwide?"  
  
"That's possible. I just can't tell."  
  
" _My analysis of the jamming pattern indicates that it has been tied to a major source of power._ "  
  
Cat nodded at Mr. Smith. "Which means we may never be able to break through it."  
  
"Could the _Aurora_?"  
  
"Maybe. I'd have to ask Jarod or Scotty or Tom."  
  
The door to the attic opened and Sarah Jane walked in. "Were you able to find out more about those supposed cops?" Angel asked.  
  
"My sources are working on it." Sarah Jane returned to her seat. "Before we continue, I have some questions for you… Elton, was it?" She looked at the blond man and his compatriot.  
  
"Elton Pope," he clarified.  
  
Sarah Jane nodded . "And Ursula?"  
  
"Ursula Blake."  
  
"Ah, good. Where do you fit into all of this?"  
  
"Well, we're in a social group," Ursula began.  
  
"LINDA." Elton clarified. "I mean, that's what I called us. It stands for 'London Investigation 'n Detective Agency'."  
  
The look on Sarah Jane's face was quiet bemusement. Angel, however, quietly buried her face into her palm for several moments.  
  
"We met through Ursula's blog," Elton continued. "I was looking on the Internet about some man known as the Doctor."  
  
Caterina looked up from her work at that to exchange an interested glance with Angel.  
  
Sarah Jane also showed an interest in that. "You've met the Doctor, then?"  
  
"Well, a couple of times," Elton said. "When I was a boy. And several months ago…"  
  
"I've heard of him too and mentioned him on my blog. And so did a few other friends of mine. Bridgit, Colin, Bliss…" Her voice faltered as she listed their names. Tears returned to her eyes.  
  
"Ursula introduced us. We met every week to discuss sightings of the Doctor and maybe learn more about him."  
  
"Which is why that thing is after us," Ursula said, her voice now thick with horror and fear. "It's why it took the others. It wants to absorb him too."  
  
A pensive look came to Sarah Jane's face. "I see."  
  
"You've met this Doctor, haven't you?" Cat asked. "I mean, with how upset you look, and you're pretty familiar with aliens and such."  
  
Sarah Jane nodded at Cat. "Yes, I have met him. And he is a wonderful being. But I'm more concerned with this absorbing creature. If it is after the Doctor, it will come back here."  
  
"Then we need to figure out how to stop it."  
  
In reply to Angel, Elton said, "Well, his cane seems important."  
  
Cat nodded. "It seems to be how he's absorbing people. And he ran when your device damaged him."  
  
"So we destroy the cane."  
  
"What about the others?" asked Ursula. "Maybe… can't we find a way to free them?"  
  
"I'm not sure." Sarah Jane stood up and walked over to her super-computer. "Mr. Smith, did you get any scans of the creature? Or the creature's cane?"  
  
" _Passive scans, Ms. Smith. I can confirm that it contains a power source not native to Earth and contains advanced matter manipulation technology. But I will require more exposure to the creature to determine more_."  
  
"So when it comes back, let's scan it," Cat said.  
  
"If we can without getting absorbed ourselves." Angel was betraying some nervous by the way she had her arms crossed and was pacing, as if she were in a cage working off excess energy. "I'm not letting it take you, Cat. I'll destroy it first."  
  
"We won't let it take anyone." Sarah Jane returned to her seat. "Can you tell me more about what happened earlier? Maybe there's something you're overlooking at the moment."  
  
"Well, it was coming to our meetings for the last few weeks," Ursula said. "It claimed its name was Victor Kennedy, and that he would help us find the Doctor. It became more like a chore, I have to say, as he demanded we spend hours more than we used to in meetings. He seemed obsessed. And the others started to disappear and it was like he was chasing them off…" She shook her head. "But he wasn't."  
  
"And now we know why."  
  
"So he was using you to help him find the Doctor," Sarah Jane noted. "Then why did he try to absorb you? You were of use to him."  
  
"He said he likes doing it," Elton answered.  
  
"Maybe he needs to," Cat suggested. "He may have to replenish his biomatter every so often."  
  
"Either way, please, do continue with your story," Sarah Jane asked.  
  
  
  
  
The bus lines brought Caterina and Angel out of the center of the city into the suburbs of the Greater London area. In their solitary seat toward the middle of the bus, far enough away from the driver to not be overheard, Cat was quietly operating her omnitool. "I think it might be some sort of subspace tap, but a very portable one," she admitted to her sister. "I'm still not sure what it's for."  
  
"We'll find out when we get there," Angel replied. She turned her head to Cat. "Enjoying the view?"  
  
Cat was already looking out the window again. "A little," she said. "I just wish we could enjoy the visit more."  
  
"I don't really see the charm of this place. It's too big and too overcrowded."  
  
"It's one of the biggest, most important cities in the world. And there are all sorts of laboratories and science institutes here. And Oxford and Cambridge, although they're outside of the city. I think." Cat smiled thinly. "I was actually considering a program that would have gotten me into one of the Oxford science colleges, actually. Back when I was in high school."  
  
Angel nodded quietly. "Would you have gone, though?"  
  
"Well…" Cat went quiet for a moment. "Maybe. I mean, it would be hard to turn down. But I know it would have been hard for you to come too."  
  
"More like impossible." Angel turned away and looked out the opposite window.  
  
Cat didn't need mind powers to know her sister was upset about something. "Angel?"  
  
"Maybe I've just been holding you back," Angel said. "Maybe trying to protect you went too far and I just kept you from growing up. I mean, look at you. I think you've become more mature these last two months than you'd matured the previous two _years_."  
  
"Oh, don't say that," Cat replied. "Mama asked you to look out for me, and you have been. I could never have made it without you around." Cat's expression betrayed her sadness, not just at what her sister was saying, but other, older memories. "Losing Mama hurt so much. I needed you. I mean, I was just sixteen when Mama died. What would have happened to me if you hadn't taken me in?" Caterina's hand gripped Angel's shoulder. "You supported me even when it cost you. You gave up your fighting career and everything."  
  
At that Angel made a scoffing sound. "It wasn't much of a career. I was getting paid more working as a stocker than fighting in those rings."  
  
"Yeah, but if you hadn't quit, you could have made a career out of it." Cat's voice was earnest and warm. Her eyes, the same brilliant hazel as Angel's, brimmed with love for her sister. "I needed you back then, Angel. And I still need you, and you never held me back. Really, I think I was holding myself back."  
  
"You weren't," Angel insisted.  
  
There was no immediate response from Caterina. She turned to face the window, looking deep in thought. After several moments she checked the map. "We're almost there. We should probably get off the bus."  
  
  
  
  
The stop was at an intersection. The map led them onto the road their bus was preparing to cross, Maccateer Street. It was a quiet part of the city. Once they were walking along the road, Cat began to take brief scans. "It looks like it moved slightly," she said to Angel.  
  
"Maybe it's something someone is carrying, then?"  
  
"I wonder what it does, if that's true… wait, over here."  
  
Caterina picked up her pace and briefly moved past her sister. Angel caught up as Caterina examined her omnitool. "Okay, it's definitely in here," she said. "But below the street level, I think."  
  
"A basement." Angel looked up at the sign. "'London Council Library'. I wonder what's going on here." She reached to the small of her back and felt the reassuring presence of her pistol. "Let's go."  
  
They entered the building and found it empty at the moment. "Not a very active library," Angel murmured.  
  
Cat was still following her scans. "I'm scanning the building… this way, I think I've found an elevator." She led Angel further into the building.  
  
When they found the elevator, it was currently on the level below. "I wonder if someone is here," Angel said while hitting the call button to summon the left vehicle.  
  
"That will make this awkward. I'm not sure what we'll tell them."  
  
"We could always go for the truth," Angel suggested. "I mean, they won't believe us. But they might think we're just a couple of kooks."  
  
"I'm not really in a hurry to be looked at as a nut," Cat protested. We'll come up with something…"  
  
Before she could finish the sentence, the lift car rose above the floor. There were two occupants; a blond-haired man in light-colored clothing and a woman in plain clothing and wearing a pair of glasses. They were waiting almost impatiently for the lift to open. "Oh, hello," the woman said upon seeing them.  
  
"Hello," Caterina answered. She had already turned her omnitool off. "I'm Caterina and this is my sister Angel." The lift gate slid open and the two stepped off.  
  
"Ursula." She gestured to her friend. "This is Elton."  
  
"Hi," Angel said simply. "Say, is there anything going on down there?"  
  
"Not anymore," Elton said. "Why?"  
  
Caterina was the one to answer. "Just curious. We're just exploring. Being curious."  
  
"The only thing you'll find down there is an unpleasant jerk." Elton was clearly in a mood. "He's ruined our entire group."  
  
"I'm sorry." Cat frowned and nodded. "I guess jerks do that to a lot of people." She stepped out of the way so they could step off the lift. Cat slipped around them to step on with Angel.  
  
"Why are you going down?" asked Ursula.  
  
"Just to see it. Just for a minute."  
  
"She's OCD about these things," Angel added quickly. "Once she has it in her mind to visit a new place, she has to see _everything_. Even basements."  
  
"I don't have to see _everything_ ," Cat protested.  
  
At that Angel smirked. "Remember when we went to Wichita that time? You nearly got into the Governor's Office."  
  
"I was _three_."  
  
While early on Elton and Ursula had seemed bewildered by their intent, the sisterly bickering had reduced that. They had nothing more to say and prepared to leave.  
  
Just as Angel reached for the elevator button, though, Ursula suddenly asked, "Wait, where's my phone?"  
  
Elton looked to her. "You don't have it?"  
  
"No. It's not here." Ursula checked her pockets with increasing speed. The look on her face spoke of disappointment and realization. "I must have left it downstairs."  
  
"You need to come back down?" Angel asked.  
  
"Yes," she said. Elton didn't object, instead joining her in pulling open the lift gate again and stepping into the metal cage with them. Angel pulled the lever and the lift began to lower beneath their feet.  
  
"It won't take long," Ursula said. "It moves pretty quickly."  
  
Angel said nothing to that. It was still painfully slow compared to the turbolifts back on the _Aurora_. But now they were in for a quiet ride.  
  
Or rather, they were, until a bloodcurdling shriek of terror came from below. Ursula and Elton paled at the scream. "Colin," Ursula managed through her surprise.  
  
The lift came low enough for them to see into the room bed. Assorted tables were arranged with ordered precision, as if desks in a classroom, with chairs beside them. A board was used for what, at a distance, looked like illustrations aod photos, not that Cat and Angel could see what they were showing given their angle and distance.  
  
But their eyes quickly focused on the center of this area, where a green mass of what looked like ooze or raw flesh was holding out an object toward an older, middle-aged man. With a final cry the man seemed to be sucked into the cane.  
  
"Colin!" cried Ursula.  
  
That drew the attention of the oozing mass. It formed a human-looking face with an expression of satisfied amusement. "What have we here?"  
  
The lift came to a complete stop. The gate opened. But none of them dared to step out.  
  
The mass continued to speak through its newly-generated human head. "What have you brought me now? I sense something different about these two, yes…"  
  
Angel and Caterina moved ahead of the other, startled people in the basement room. "What is that thing?" Elton asked.  
  
The suppurating mass of green continued to shift in place. "Interesting," it gurgled through the half-formed mouth. "I can feel the energy on you. Subspace… ah, matter transportation. You are clearly not local."  
  
"What's it to you?" Angel asked.  
  
"What are you?" was Caterina's query.  
  
"I am a very curious being," the creature responded. "I exist to absorb knowledge. Knowledge is power." The mass gurgled for a moment. "And there are other benefits." The green mass coalesced briefly into a new form, that of the same man they had seen absorbed. A moment later it shifted into a middle-aged woman. Ursula gasped in shock at the sight. By the time she managed a pained "Bridgit" the creature had turned into another woman, closer to Ursula's age.  
  
"Bliss." Elton looked at the creature in horror. "You took them. You're why they disappeared!"  
  
"They were inefficient. Unnecessary. But their knowledge is useful."  
  
"It's not just that, is it?" Cat asked. She had her omnitool on and was scanning the malignant creature. "You use their raw mass for yourself. And you feed off of the act too. You're _enjoying_ it."  
  
The gurgle that came in reply sounded much like a laugh. "Perhaps so. And what of you? Your technology is clearly not of this world. I must know more. Perhaps I will learn more after I absorb you two…"  
  
"Hey, you two…" Angel looked back. Her hand was already at the small of her back and pulling her pulse pistol out. "Alton or Ursula or whatever your names are, we should probably start to…"  
  
"...run!" Caterina urged.  
  
Angel started shooting the creature as it surged at them with a terrible hunger. The blue pulses struck the mass but did nothing to stop it.  
  
The creature began to coalesce into a Human form again, and when it did one of the resulting arms brought the cane to bear on Angel. Just as its light grabbed for her Elton slammed into Angel. Both flew out of range of the cane and hit the floor.  
  
Cat was already thinking of the problem. The lift was slow, too slow, if they were going to get away quickly. She grabbed Ursula and pulled her behind a pillar. "Is there any other way out of the basement?" she asked.  
  
"There's…. well, I…"  
  
Ursula was clearly scared out of her wits. It was a condition Cat was sympathetic with. Thinking of how the others - usually Rob or Julia or sometimes Angel - helped her in those situations, Cat grabbed Ursula by the shoulders. "You need to focus."  
  
Movement crossed Cat's peripheral vision. She glanced quickly enough to see the absorbing creature passing by the pillar, intent on them. She pulled Ursula with her to the other side of the pillar and onto the next one. Once she had her safely out of the absorbing thing's line of sight, Caterina took her shoulders again. "Focus. Ursula, is there another way out of here?"  
  
"There's… a stairway," she said. "The fire escape stairwell. But there's nowhere to hide, that thing will catch us…"  
  
Angel and Elton moved to the support pillar beside them. "Can you take us to that stairway?" she asked Elton and Ursula.  
  
"But all it has to do is…"  
  
"We'll deal with that part," Caterina said, cutting off Elton's protest. "But we need to know we can get there."  
  
"Y-yeah." Ursula nodded. "We can show you."  
  
"Good." Angel looked at Caterina. "Do you have any ideas?"  
  
Cat looked around. "Maybe." She grinned slightly. "I wonder what electricity will do to it?"  
  
"I don't know. My pulse pistol isn't doing anything." Angel still had the pistol in her hands.  
  
"I can hear you," the creature said. Its voice was now "normal", speaking from a properly-formed mouth. "The more you make me chase you, the more I'll enjoy absorbing you."  
  
Cat, meanwhile, was tapping away on her omnitool. A final key press sent a short text message that popped up in blue hard-light around Angel's left forearm: _Water sprinkler_.  
  
Angel tapped the screen to dismiss the message and nodded at Cat. After one last check to see if Elton was in place - he was - Angel turned around the pillar.  
  
The absorbing creature had been quietly walking back toward them. Its cane was up and ready, but currently pointing slightly away from Angel. This gave her enough time to aim her pistol above the creature and fire. The pulse shot struck the water sprinkler head directly above the creature. Stagnant water, pungent from the smell of being in pipes for so long, began to flow down over it. With a contemptuous look on its wide, bearded face, it swung the cane toward Angel. "Is that the…"  
  
With its cane now pointing away from her, Cat made her move. She slipped around the pillar and held her left arm toward the floor and the gathering puddle of water at the absorbing creature's feet. Her fingers curled into the gesture her omnitool recognized for its self-defense mechanism. An electrical burst, generated by the microfusion power source for the omnitool, shot out and struck the water.  
  
The creature cried out as electricity surged into it. Its form briefly fell, revealing its natural state as a big green blob. The cane dropped to the ground.  
  
"Go! Go!" Angel shouted at Elton. He started to run, with Ursula and Cat behind him, all heading to the other side of the basement. Angel took a moment to fire a shot at the absorber's cane. She hit, that she was certain of. She was disappointed that the cane hadn't been destroyed. Her shot still accomplished at least one thing, however. The kinetic element of the particle pulse's impact sent it skittering along the ground away from the recovering creature. Angel had a moment to see the absorber start to turn toward its lost device before she ran after the others.  
  
"Here!" Elton got to the fire stairway and ran into the door at full speed, throwing it open. He was in the lead for the run up the stairs. The four caused quite a clatter in the stairwell from the constant impacts of their feet against the metal surfacing of the steps. "Keep going!" she urged.  
  
They got to the last flight when the door below was thrown open. The absorber ran in, wearing his usual Human disguise of the man in the dark suit. Angel noticed the sprinklers in the stairwell as she got to the final steps. Ahead of her Elton went out the door to the main floor with Ursula and Caterina behind him. Angel stopped at the door and turned back, firing at every fire sprinkler head she saw. Water began to pour down upon the steps. She heard a thump from further down and, content that she had bought them precious seconds, Angel ran on to join the others.  
  
She found them rushing out the front door. "What do we do now?!" Ursula cried out.  
  
Caterina activated her omnitool. "Delgado to _Bastilone_ , we need an emergency beamout for four, now!" When there was no response, she repeated herself. "Delgado to _Bastilone_ , emergency beamout for four, please! We don't have time! Do you hear me?!"  
  
Angel tapped her own omnitool. "Delgado to _Bastilone,_ please respond." When she got nothing she and Cat exchanged worried looks. "What could have happened?" Angel wondered aloud.  
  
Caterina's omnitool was already active. "That's odd. There's some sort of interference pattern now. All of our transmissions are being blocked."  
  
"What? How?!" Angel shook her head. "That doesn't make sense!"  
  
"That thing's going to get here any minute!" Elton shouted.  
  
"I don't know if we can outrun it on foot." Caterina looked down the street. She started walking to the end of the building. "There!" A light-colored four door sedan was parked. "Let's get going!"  
  
Nobody protested the commission of car theft; all four ran to the vehicle. Caterina, by habit, went to the passenger side while using her omnitool to mimic the radio signal of a key fob. The doors unlocked as she jumped in. Angel was already getting in on the driver's side while Ursula and Elton were climbing in the back seat.  
  
At least, those were the sides in Caterina's head, but once she sat down she realized that the steering wheel was on _her_ side. She exchanged a glance with Angel; both had forgotten the change in sides from being in England. And there was no time to swap. Cat looked to her omnitool and used it to scan the keyhole for the car. The same microfabricators and replicator that had made the map earlier now produced a simple key that she immediately pushed into the ignition. With a twist of the key the car started.  
  
The absorbing creature came around the side of the building. Fear gripped Cat and she slammed on the accelerator. The car lurched right into action, speeding right at the absorber. It jumped to the side as the car thundered on. Cat pulled onto the right side of the road and was reminded to change to the other side by a cry of "You're on the wrong side of the road!" from a terrified Ursula.  
  
"So we can't get hold of the _Bastilone_ and we have a monster chasing us," Angel groused. "What do we do next?"  
  
Caterina was already thinking of that. The idea popped into her head and she smiled despite everything. "We complete our mission," she said. "We find that other power source and use it to break through the jamming."  
  
"Alright, let me check the map…" Angel brought the map up. She frowned. "It gives me a circle. There's no exact location."  
  
"You'll have to switch to your omnitool when we get to that area," Cat said. Her hands clasped the steering wheel tightly. _While I try to remember all of my driving lessons…_  
  
  
  
  
"And we ended up here" Caterina said, finishing the tale.  
  
"So you detected Mr. Smith from half a solar system away?" Sarah Jane asked.  
  
"Well, we detected some of the power linked to him," Caterina clarified. "I had no idea it'd be a sapient supercomputer."  
  
With impatience clear on her features, Angel asked, "Have you gotten through the jamming yet?"  
  
Cat double-checked her omnitool. The shake of her head was answer enough. "Whatever this field is, it's made to jam communications like ours."  
  
"Could this creature be causing it?" Sarah Jane stood from her seat. "That seems the most plausible answer given the timing."  
  
"If he's got the equipment, but I'm not sure," Cat replied. "It could be something else."  
  
"Maybe related to those agents who came to your door?"  
  
Angel's suggestion clearly won Sarah Jane's consideration. "It's possible," she agreed. "I have a friend looking into that now."  
  
"I'm more worried about how we're going to fight that thing," said Cat. "The pulse pistol does nothing. And if we destroy the cane, I'm not sure we can get anyone back."  
  
"Well, we've got to find some way to stop that thing," Angel insisted.  
  
From her seat Caterina was thinking of just that. She used her omnitool to bring up her scans of the absorbing creature. The specialized scanners built into the omnitool gave her a number of different scanning capabilities, scanners set to record due to their mission, and now the readings were showing on the blue hard-light interface surrounding her left forearm. "It's got quite a lot of mass," she said. "However it's constructed, we may be able to use that. Maybe if I…" After another few scans showed up she nodded and smiled a little. "Yes, I think I can do this. I mean, I'm not an engineer, but I should be able to make this…"  
  
"Make what?" Elton asked.  
  
"A forcefield generator," Cat explained. "It wouldn't be very powerful, but I might be able to make something that would turn this absorber's mass against it. I just need the right parts."  
  
"I may be able to help with that," Sarah Jane said. She gestured to a set of drawers. Cat walked up and opened one. Her eyes widened. Sarah Jane looked to her and asked, "Can you use any of this?"  
  
"This… this looks like it could be a field amplifier. A portable one." Cat picked up the somewhat heavy, palm-sized piece of equipment. "Where did you get this?"  
  
"That is a very long story," Sarah Jane replied.  
  
As Cat looked over the contents of the drawers, her confidence rose sharply. The technology Sarah Jane had could indeed work. She grabbed the items she'd need and set her omnitool to assist in putting the pieces together. "I'll need just a few minutes and then…"  
  
Before she could finish, a shrill scream came from outside. Angel was the first to the window, with Elton and Sarah Jane behind her.  
  
Outside, they could see the creature, again appearing as "Victor Kennedy", standing over "Inspector Graham". His partner Wallbridge was missing. What had happened to him was evident given the energy coming from the creature's cane, which was now encompassing Graham. His scream continued until he had been drawn into the cane. Energy surged into the creature, which seemed to get just a little bit larger.  
  
The creature looked back to the house and up at the window. Even from that distance Angel could see the smile cross his face. He held up his hand, which turned green and started to shift into an amorphous green glob. Moments later it hardened again, but where it had been holding nothing before, now it gripped a firearm. He leveled it at them. Angel pulled Elton down and Sarah Jane ducked as well.  
  
A beam of blue light sizzled through the door, scorching the roof above them.  
  
"Cat, you might want to hurry," Angel called out. "I think we're out of time."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angela and Caterina help a group of alien-seeking 21st Century Londoners being stalked by an alien monster.

One common attitude Caterina had found among others, even among her sister, was the attitude that "scientist = knows everything". That her science education, that her experience, made her capable of knowing everything and doing everything. It was a belief that she found aggravating sometimes. Biologists were not physicists, and neither were chemists. And they certainly weren't always engineers, as the entire point of engineers was to take what the scientists learned and put it into practical use.  
  
Except for Jarod, of course, but as far as Cat was concerned, he cheated. Mentally-adaptive super-savants were obvious exceptions to the rule.  
  
And here she was again, being expected to do something she wasn't actually trained to do. She knew how something like a forcefield generator worked, but how to put it together...that might be tricky.  
  
And if she couldn't, she and Angel and these nice people would all end up getting absorbed into some grotesque monster.  
  
Said monster was now outside of Sarah Jane's home. It had absorbed two men, government agents of some kind, and now had an energy firearm that it was using to shoot into the house.  
  
As another azure beam left scorched marks on the attic ceiling, Angel called out, "Cat, you'd better hurry with that."  
  
"It's going to catch the whole house on fire." Sarah Jane motioned to the door. "I'll take you to the back door!"  
  
While she led Elton and Ursula out, Angel quickly looked to Cat. "Don't worry about us, just get that thing built!" She went through the door a moment later.  
  
"No pressure," Cat murmured to herself, taking up a screwdriver and getting to work with a couple of the pieces she had.  
  
  
  
  
The absorber was approaching the front door when Angel went out the back. She pulled out the pulse pistol again. "That hasn't been working all day," Elton protested.  
  
"I haven't been shooting at the cane," she answered. "If I have to, I'll destroy it."  
  
"You can't," pleaded Ursula. "Not if we can get the others back."  
  
"It's a last resort."  
  
They came around the house while the absorber was preparing to go through the front door. It stopped and turned its head. Its guise was still that of the persona Victor Kennedy.  
  
Sarah Jane stepped up beyond the others. "What do you want?" she asked.  
  
There was no reply. All that Kennedy did was pull up the absorbing staff to use it.  
  
Angel fired at him with her pistol, aiming it toward the cane. As she hoped, he reacted by scowling and pulling the cane back. He reformed the energy gun he'd used before and pointed it toward Angel, who went back into cover to avoid the resulting beam.  
  
Sarah Jane brought out her sonic device again. Kennedy swept the gun over toward her, forcing her to jump for the bushes to avoid the sizzling blue beam that set fire to the small tree beyond.  
  
The fire began to spread before a spray of water struck it and extinguished it. Ursula, water hose in hand, brought the sprayer over and directed it at the absorber's face. The attack could cause no harm, but it did distract, long enough for Elton to dart up and grab the cane from the creature's hand. He ran back to the others.  
  
The absorber brought its gun up and fired a shot toward Ursula. As the beam moved closer to her she reacted instinctively, ducking for cover. The stream of water stopped blinding the creature.  
  
It shifted shape rapidly, becoming a lean cougar, and with the power of four legs it dashed across the short distance and pounced on Elton, who cried out in surprise. The cane went flying from his grasp.  
  
Sarah Jane lunged for the cane while Angel lunged for the cougar-shaped absorber. She knocked him off of Elton with a single push that sent the absorber into the lawn. It began to shift shape as it landed, remaining an amorphous mass. A solid tentacle of green biomass lashed out toward Sarah Jane's wrists as her hands closed around the cane. She clearly resisted the tug. For several moments she seemed to be prevailing, until the power of the creature was enough to pull her to the ground and begin dragging her. A second tentacle shot out and wrapped around the cane.  
  
Angel was grabbing at it as well at this point. She couldn't quite wrench it free, although she did stop the motion toward the rest of the creature. After struggling for a moment she started to kick at the tentacle holding Sarah Jane's wrist. The kicks were strong enough that the creature clearly disliked them. Its grasp slackened until the tentacle fell away. When it moved again, it was to merge with the tentacle gripping the cane, creating a tug-of-war between the absorber and Angel with Sarah Jane.  
  
Elton and Ursula got back into the struggle, brandishing a rake and a spade respectively, which they started to hit the creature with. This clearly agitated it, but the effect was counter-productive; it gripped onto the cane all the harder.  
  
Then the cane started to light up. Sarah Jane and Angel noticed it, and Sarah Jane immediately let go and jumped onto Angel to pull her away. A bust of energy went off that didn't touch them - the only reason they were not absorbed into the creature.  
  
It drew the cane back to itself with rapid speed, reforming into the Victor Kennedy form as it did. A hand flew out and smacked into Ursula, sending her flying. He twisted and punched Elton directly as he swung his spade, sending him down as well.  
  
"You are not stopping me!" the creature declared, clearly angry. He held up the cane toward Elton.  
  
An object flew through the air and landed at Kennedy's feet. It lit up and energy formed around and near it. The resulting beam of light from the cane stopped a few inches from its tip, contained in the crackle of yellow force field energy that now encased Kennedy.  
  
Caterina was standing outside the front door now. She had a smile of satisfaction. "I made it work!" she said, pleased with her success. "I'm shocked, but I did it!"  
  
"Good job, Cat," Angel said warmly, picking herself off the ground.  
  
From within his new forcefield prison, Kennedy scowled out at them. "Do you think this can hold me forever?" he demanded.  
  
"It'll hold you long enough," Sarah Jane answered. She looked to Cat and nodded. "Good job."  
  
"Thank you, ma'am."  
  
"How do we make it return our friends?" asked Ursula.  
  
"You can't," said "Kennedy", smirking. "They are a part of me now. Permanently. If you want to be with them again, you will have to join them."  
  
"Yes, we'll just take your word for it," Angel grumbled sarcastically.  
  
Cat activated her omnitool and began to scan the cane and the monster. It frowned at her while she looked over the readings. "We'll see what I can learn from a scan."  
  
"How long will that forcefield last?" asked Sarah Jane.  
  
"A few hours, I think," Caterina answered. She kept her hazel eyes focused on the sensor readings. "That should be enough time for us to figure out if we can save the people he's absorbed."  
  
Kennedy chortled at that. "You have far less time than you assume, Human."  
  
"And just what do you mean by that?" Sarah Jane asked. "Unless there's another of your kind around, and you don't seem the type to share."  
  
The creature smirked. And then he shifted form, becoming "Inspector" Graham.  
  
Everyone exchanged looks of bewilderment at the sudden change. As the sound of a speeding motor vehicle engine came to Angel's ears, she realized what the creature had just done. "Everyone into the house, now!"  
  
"Wait, what are you… hey!" Cat's last cry was from her attention to her omnitool being broken by Angel grabbing her right forearm and pulling her to the front door. Sarah Jane had clearly realized what was going on as well. She had taken both Ursula and Elton in hand and was bringing them with her to the door.  
  
Two black cars turned in front of the house, fishtailing from the speed they had achieved before breaking. Armed men jumped from the doors and directed guns toward Sarah Jane and the others. "Down on the ground!" one shouted. "Now!"  
  
Sarah Jane brought the others through the door and slammed it. Angel was already coming from where she locked the back door.  
  
"We've got to warn them!" Caterina insisted.  
  
"Warn them of what? That their friend's not really their friend?" Angel shook her head. "They'd never believe it. They're going to free that thing, Cat, and we won't be able to stop them. Now come _on_."  
  
The group got to the stairs and were running up when the door was thrown open. Armed men walked into the house.  
  
  
  
  
"Surround the house. Cover all potential exits." One of the agents stepped up to Kennedy while his comrades went in. "Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm fine, sir. Just got caught is all."  
  
"What are we dealing with? You reported that we're dealing with that 'LINDA' group that popped up."  
  
"I'm afraid to say they're mad, sir," Kennedy said as "Graham". "Obsessed with the Doctor, and in league with extraterrestrial agents and their spy who lives here."  
  
"Good job in confirming our suspicions, Graham," the other man said. "Hartman will promote you for sure."  
  
"For Queen and country," the creature said pleasantly, and he kept a satisfied smile on his face while another nearby agent shut down the forcefield generator keeping him prisoner.  
  
His rescuers looked at him curiously. "Since when did you get a cane, Graham?" one asked.  
  
"Do you like it?" Graham smiled widely and held it out to the man. "Here, let me show it to you…"  
  
  
  
  
The screams from outside drew all heads toward the window. "So much for them," Angel muttered.  
  
"There will be more," Sarah Jane replied.  
  
"Do you have any idea who they are?"  
  
"They're not UNIT, that's for sure. I suspect they're from the Torchwood Institute."  
  
"Shouldn't we barricade the door?" Ursula asked.  
  
"It wouldn't do any good," Caterina answered, as more screams came up from the ground floor. Her eyes were focused on her omnitool. "That thing has absorbed so much mass that it could pound the door down." She tapped something. "All of that mass…" A look came over her while she examined sensor readings. She looked to Elton. "How often did your friends disappear? How quickly was it absorbing?"  
  
"Well, uh…" Elton thought about it for a moment. "Bliss disappeared almost two months ago."  
  
"And it's been a few weeks since Bridgit stopped coming," Ursula added.  
  
"Does this mean something?" Angel asked. "And have you gotten through the jamming yet?"  
  
"Yes and no," came the answer.  
  
"You think that maybe it's had too much lately?" Sarah Jane asked.  
  
"The sensors are showing increasing fluctuation in its life readings. The body temperature is off, the mass is all wrong… yes. Yes, I think it's been absorbing too much too quickly."  
  
"Mister Smith?" Sarah Jane called out.  
  
The computer probably came back out. " _Yes, Miss Smith?_ "  
  
"Can you link with the sensor readings this young lady has taken? Are there signs of any kind of instability in the creature?"  
  
" _Accessing now_."  
  
Outside the cries and shouts had died out. "That's probably not a good sign," Angel noted. She moved over by the door. Elton joined her, brandishing a cricket bat he'd found in the corner.  
  
" _Miss Smith, I am indeed detecting indications of cellular degradation. The creature may have absorbed too much too quickly._ "  
  
"Can we use that against it?" she asked.  
  
" _It is possible you could cause the absorptions to overload. Depending upon varying factors, such an overload could either cause complete cellular breakdown or cause the mass in question to return to original form._ "  
  
"In other words, we either cause the thing to die and take everyone it's absorbed with it, or we win and get everyone back?" asked Angel.  
  
" _That is a fair assessment._ "  
  
Caterina kept going back and forth on the readings. "It's possible that we could cause the overload to reverse the absorptions before cellular breakdown." She looked at Sarah Jane. "Miss Smith, your sonic device, if you can hit the cane with the right frequency to disrupt its control hardware, and I can use the omnitool's data-streaming to remotely access the cane, I might be able to trigger a reversal."  
  
Everyone was becoming aware of a loud thumping coming up the stairs. Ursula's face was as pale as it had ever gotten. Elton's hands clenched around the cricket bat in his hand while Angel assumed an attack stance.  
  
Caterina worked as quickly as she could, running her fingers over her omnitool controls to finish configuring it.  
  
There was a loud knock on the door that made the hinges rattle. A second. The hinges were starting to come off their housing. A third.  
  
At the fourth, the door went off its hinges and fell in, splintered wood showing on the other end. The figure that ended was still mostly the Victor Kennedy disguise, but with the flesh turned green and the surface rippling with goo.  
  
Elton slammed the cricket bat on the absorber's head. It barely seemed to notice the blow. A hand swung out and sent him flying. Ursula rushed to his side.  
  
Angel jumped onto the creature's back and wrapped her arms around its neck. For several critical moments she held on for dear life while it swung around, trying to dislodge her. She locked her legs under its arms to win further leverage.  
  
The creature shifted to its basic, oozing green form. Angel's arms and legs sunk into that oozing form and all leverage was lost. It spun around and created a single wide appendage that slammed Angel in the chest and stomach, knocking her away and taking the air from her lungs in the process.  
  
The creature reformed into humanoid shape and held up its cane toward Sarah Jane. "I have had enough of this chase! I need your knowledge to find the Doctor!"  
  
Ursula and Elton grabbed at the cane. The act gave Sarah Jane time to avoid the absorbing beam that came from it. The creature howled in frustration and twisted with enough force to throw the two Londoners off.  
  
"Cat…?" Angel was starting to rise from where she'd fallen.  
  
"Not ready yet…"  
  
A scream partly distracted her. Ursula was caught in the absorption beam from the cane. It seemed to tag at her, distorting the shape of her body.  
  
Elton grabbed her and tried to pull her away. "No!" he cried. "Stop!"  
  
For a moment it looked like he might just get her away. But the device was not to be denied. Within moments it seemed to have gripped Elton as well. He cried out in pain and fear along with Ursula in the final horrible seconds before they were drawn completely in.  
  
The absorber shuddered in satisfaction. "And now for you…" It turned toward Cat and brought the cane up.  
  
Cat checked her omnitool. She was so close, _so close_ , but the configuration still wasn't ready. She didn't have time! She had to move and…  
  
...and Angel grabbed at the cane, just as Elton and Ursula had. " _Now, Cat!_ " she cried out. She held on for dear life.  
  
Cat looked back to her omnitool. Just one last step. Just one. She almost had it.  
  
The absorber started slamming Angel against the pillar in the middle of the attic. Her face was twisted in a grimace of pain from the beating.  
  
But she held on.  
  
Caterina suddenly turned to Sarah Jane. "Now!"  
  
Sarah Jane nodded and held out her sonic device. The end lit up red and let out a whirring sound.  
  
As the cane began to spark, Caterina's attention returned to her omnitool. With a couple of button presses she opened a connection to the absorber's cane. The coding she had prepared, with Mr. Smith's remote help, loaded into the device's control hardware.  
  
Light surged from the cane, which positively crackled with power. Angel let go and fell backward onto the floor. She pushed herself away as the absorber began to shake.  
  
"No!" It screamed. " _No! NO!!!_ "  
  
The light from the cane became blinding, forcing everyone to turn away from it. There was a sickening "glorp" echoing through the air and a series of agonized screams, followed by a rapid set of thumps.  
  
When the light receded, the burnt out remains of the cane dropped to the floor, where a small, sad little mass of pale green matter plopped and splattered beside it.  
  
Scattered around the attack were nearly a dozen people. Elton and Ursula, their friends, and several dark-clad men, along with a plump older lady who started to look about in stunned, horrified confusion.  
  
"Yes!" Caterina cried. With her sister out of arm's reach her desire for a hug of victory led her to wrap her arms around Sarah Jane, who laughed in delight. "It worked!"  
  
"We're… alive…" Elton looked up at them. "You did it."  
  
"Good work, Cat." Angela pushed off one of the agents, who was still struggling to recover. "You stopped that thing."  
  
"Well, Mr. Smith helped," Caterina said. She looked to the computer and said, "Thank you."  
  
" _You are welcome, Miss Delgado._ "  
  
"Colin?" Bridgit struggled to stand. Her eyes moved over the floor until they met Colin's, as he struggled to sit up. "Colin!"  
  
"Bridgit? You… you're okay?"  
  
"Do you remember anything?" Sarah Jane asked them.  
  
"Not much." Elton helped Ursula up. "I thought I felt the others. Like I was… I don't know… a fog. Something without a body. And I was trapped."  
  
"You saved us," Ursula said to Caterina and Sarah Jane. Angel stepped up and accepted a hug from her younger sister, after which they turned back to Ursula. "You did it."  
  
"That's what we get paid for these days," Angel said, smiling. "Although this was a bit out there compared to our usual jobs."  
  
"And what happened to that… thing?"  
  
All eyes turned to the sad little green glob on the floor. "It looks like the biomass it consumed was taken from its original form," Caterina said. "It burned too much to leave behind a real body."  
  
"I wonder what species it was?" Sarah Jane murmured. She knelt down by the glob.  
  
"I'll see if I can get a genetic profile," Cat offered. "Maybe…"  
  
She was interrupted by thudding on the stairs outside. Within moments off that thudding becoming audible, figures rushed into the room. Men in 21st Century body armor held up weapons and shouted "Don't move! Hands in the air!"  
  
There was nothing for them to do. Caterina and Angel slowly held their hands up with Sarah Jane.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angela and Caterina help a group of alien-seeking 21st Century Londoners being stalked by an alien monster.

After having their wrists zip-tied together and being held for several minutes at gunpoint, everyone was brought downstairs and then to the parking lot. A veritable fleet of vehicles was now on the street. The five "LINDA" members, the sisters, and Sarah Jane were ordered out to the street.  
  
One car finished pulling up through the cordon of protective vehicles. When it came to a stop the rear door opened. The woman who emerged looked like she was just now pushing forty years of age, with dark blond hair that went down to her neck and an impressive business suit. She walked up to them. "Well, this has made my day," she said. "We weren't sure of the source of those matter transports earlier today. It's good to know something's coming out of our efforts."  
  
"Who the hell are you?" Angel demanded.  
  
The woman kept her quiet smile. "I'm Yvonne Hartman, Administrator of the Torchwood Institute."  
  
"Torchwood." Sarah Jane spoke with clear contempt. "I've heard of your group before."  
  
"As we have heard of you, Miss Sarah Jane Smith," Hartman answered. "We're well aware of your past connections to the alien being called the Doctor and of your more recent activities. Feel fortunate we haven't already shut you down."  
  
"Isn't this brazen even for you? You've blocked off an entire street in blond daylight, in the middle of the London suburbs."  
  
"It is not our usual style, I grant, but we had reason to." Hartman nodded to the sisters. "Your friends here. We were wondering if the source of that probe would ever return."  
  
"What do you want from us?" Caterina asked.  
  
"Your technology, obviously. The means to protect Earth from all threats." Hartman nodded. "Your debriefing should be quite an education."  
  
"And then…?" asked Angel.  
  
"Well, that depends on how cooperative you are," Hartman answered. "I'm hardly a monster, after all. Answer my questions and I will make sure you're cared for."  
  
"We can't tell you anything about our technology," Caterina said. "That's against our orders. Our laws."  
  
"That is regrettable, young lady. Because I will do whatever I must to protect this country and acquire the means to accomplish that." Hartman gave them a hard look. "So you had better understand that I _will_ ensure your cooperation, one way or another."  
  
"You can't be serious," Sarah Jane said, her voice betraying her anger. "This isn't right."  
  
"You should be thankful, Miss Smith, that you're not on your way to the Institute's cells," Hartman replied. "We're willing to let you keep your freedom. But first we'll be removing every piece of alien contraband from your home. And from now on, expect us to be keeping a close eye on you. Britain has enough threats to worry about without having some journalist engaging in amateur…"  
  
As Hartman's diatribe continued, an audible _whump-whump-whump_ filled the air. After the word "amateur" her next few words were nearly inaudible as a helicopter moved overhead. Everyone looked up, even Hartman, as three more choppers moved around them. They were military in size, and armed soldiers began to drop from those hovering overhead.  
  
"What now?" Angel asked, loudly. "More friends of yours?"  
  
"My friends, actually," Sarah Jane answered, cutting Hartman off.  
  
The last helicopter came to a landing just outside the circle of vehicles Hartman had driven through previously. More soldiers spilled out and took up positions. As they came into place a woman slipped out of the passenger area. She was also in a suit, but it was more conservative in appearance than Hartman's, with a long business jacket. Her blond hair was cut into a short arrangement. She moved with deliberate, firm steps until she was within earshot of the assembled. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a very authoritative-looking ID. "Kate Stewart," the woman said, focusing on Hartman. "Deputy Director of UNIT."  
  
"Hello, Kate," Sarah Jane said, still smiling.  
  
Hartman, however, was not. "What are you doing here?" she demanded over the constant _whump_ of helicopters. "UNIT has no jurisdiction…"  
  
"On the contrary, UNIT has all the jurisdiction it needs," Kate Stewart countered. "As you well know. This woman is one of ours," she said, indicating Sarah Jane. "Nor will you be taking these young ladies." She nodded to Angel and Caterina. "UNIT will handle any negotiations or contact with their people."  
  
Hartman's face made clear her stark disapproval, and more than a little anger. "If you think I'm going to let UNIT just waltz in and take this case over…" Hartman's voice became a growl. "The Torchwood Institute answers directly to Her Majesty and her Privy Council. I have full jurisdiction and authority to be here, and I will not let UNIT ruin what may be our best chance to acquire technology that would give us an edge against future incursions." Hartman drew close to her new rival. "And unless you have a Privy Councillor with you, there's nothing you can do to force the issue. Not unless you want to start a war in the middle of Bannerman Road."  
  
The look on Stewart's face told the sisters immediately that Hartman had just lost. That small, satisfied smile ended only for the UNIT official to say, "It's a good thing I brought a Privy Councillor along, isn't it?" She looked back to the helicopter and nodded.  
  
Another figure emerged, more slowly, and not surprising given he had to be helped down while holding a cane. It tapped against the asphalt as he walked up to them, an old man in a fine suit with a head of gray hair, the hairline receding, and an equally gray mustache and beard that were well-trimmed. He looked at the assembled and grinned slightly. "Sorry for the occasion, Miss Smith. Business first."  
  
She grinned back and nodded. "Of course, Brigadier."  
  
The man nodded and turned to Hartman. "Yvonne Hartman. You know who I am."  
  
It was clear she did. A sullen look came to her face. "Yes, Sir Alistair."  
  
Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart nodded. "And you know what I am then."  
  
"A standing member of Her Majesty's Privy Council," Hartman replied dully. "Responsible for advising Her Majesty and the rest of the Council on matters involving extraterrestrial activity and advanced science."  
  
"Good." Sir Alistair nodded to her. "Release these poor people immediately and withdraw your agents. UNIT will finish up here."  
  
WIth immense frustration on her features, Hartman nodded. "Of course, Sir Alistair." She turned to one of the agents. "Release them."  
  
Wordlessly, the agent did so, a frown on his face while he used a pen knife to cut the zip ties one by one. Caterina and Angel both rubbed at their wrists while watching Hartman's people enter their vehicles. One by one, they drove off, all but one of the other UNIT helicopters withdrew as well.  
  
Once everyone was gone save the last two UNIT choppers, Sarah Jane took the moment to hug Sir Alistair. "It's good to see you," she said, and there was a visible tear in her eye.  
  
"And it pleases me to see you so well, Sarah Jane," he replied.  
  
"And Kate. It's good to see you too." Sarah Jane, knowing her friend's daughter well enough, only offered her hand. "Alistair must be proud at what you've accomplished."  
  
For all her business-like demeanor throughout the occasion, it clearly slipped at this point. "Thank you, Miss Smith," she said, warmth in her voice now.  
  
"So these are those friends you mentioned?" Angel asked Sarah Jane.  
  
She nodded. "I've worked with UNIT on a number of occasions, along with the Doctor."  
  
"I'm afraid you young ladies have the advantage of me," Sir Alistair said.  
  
Angel looked to him and nodded. "Sorry, sir. I'm Angela Delgado and this is my younger sister Caterina. We're… not from around here."  
  
"I would gather you mean you're not from this planet, not simply that you're from across the pond?" he asked.  
  
"Um…"  
  
"They are lieutenants on an interuniversal exploration vessel," Sarah Jane answered. "Sent to investigate alien power readings in London. Apparently their vessel sent quite a few teams to look into oddities on our Earth."  
  
"But you are Human?" Kate asked.  
  
"We are. We're from an Earth in a different universe. As crazy as that can sound."  
  
"It's not quite as crazy for us as you imagine," Kate assured her.  
  
"So… what does this all have to do with the Doctor?"  
  
Heads turned to face the LINDA quintet. Elton and Ursula were the most recovered from their experience. The others were clearly still getting the feel for being whole again.  
  
"What do they know of the Doctor?" Sir Alistair asked Sarah Jane.  
  
"You'll have to ask them."  
  
"Not a lot," Elton said. "Very little. I met him once, though. Well, twice."  
  
"Ah." Sir Alistair smiled. "He is quite capable of sticking in the mind, isn't he? Anyway, we had better get the chopper going, we won't be able to hold off news staff for much longer."  
  
"I'm afraid my home has suffered some damage so I can't invite you in for tea."  
  
"Oh, we can find some back at base," Sir Alistair assured her.  
  
Sarah Jane looked to the sisters, already certain of how leery they would be. "He's a friend, as I said, and he can help you contact your ship. We're in safe hands now."  
  
"And on our flight back, perhaps you can explain how this all began?" he ventured.  
  
Caterina looked to Angel, who nodded. "Alright," the older sister said. "We'll go."  
  
"Splendid."  
  
Kate nodded in agreement and got onto her radio. The other remaining chopper landed to take aboard some of the LINDA members while Sarah Jane, Angel, Cat, and Elton joined Kate and Sir Alistair on their helicopter. Once eveyrone was aboard both took off into the clear London sky.  
  
  
  
  
Night was starting to fall when the _Bastilone_ rippled into view on the tarmac of the UNIT base outside of London. The side airlock opened and Julia stepped out with Jarod and Meridina.  
  
Angel and Caterina were waiting for them. They were in the company of Sarah Jane, Sir Alistair, or "the Brig" as some members of UNIT still called him, and Kate.  
  
Julia gave them a bemused look. "I hope you two are ready for a lot of tough questions from Admiral Maran."  
  
"It's better than being consumed by an evil alien," Angel retorted playfully. She looked to the others and made introductions.  
  
"Welcome to Earth, Commander," Sir Alistair said. "Or rather, our Earth."  
  
"Thank you, sir," she answered. "You have my greetings and those of the United Alliance of Systems."  
  
"Your lieutenants have explained a few things to us, but they insisted that you would be the one to answer a few remaining questions about the Alliance, and what you are doing here."  
  
Julia nodded. "I'd be happy to."  
  
"Then, allow us to provide hospitality."  
  
The Brig led Julia and the others, with Kate, back toward the building. Sarah Jane didn't head back with them for the moment, however, and this drew the curiosity of Caterina and Angel. "Where are you going?"  
  
"I want to see how the others are doing," she said.  
  
"So do I," answered Cat.  
  
  
  
  
They found the five LINDA members in a break room in the facility. They were huddled together, Elton and Ursula as one pair and Colin and Bridgit as the other, with Bliss in the middle, staring into space. Just before Caterina could speak, Elton spoke up. "It's just… how can something like this happen?" He looked up. "It's like the whole world has gone mad."  
  
"What has happened to you is terrible," Sarah Jane agreed. She took the seat opposite from them. "Take all of the time you need to recover from it."  
  
"But how… I mean, we can't just go to a psychiatrist and talk about this, they'll lock us up for being loony, talking about absorbing monsters and spaceships and other universes!"  
  
"I've talked to Kate Stewart about that, actually, and UNIT will provide help for you." Sarah Jane leaned forward in the chair and faced the five survivors with sympathy. "I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for this happening to you. But you're not alone. You have each other, and I will help you as best as I can."  
  
They all looked to her silently.  
  
"I know what it's like to be a victim of something like that," Caterina said. This won her their attention for the moment. "I mean, I wasn't absorbed or anything. I had my nervous system nearly burnt out by an alien serial killer who mind-controlled me. And it's… it's still with me, and I have nightmares a lot, and so you're going to have them… but you're still going to have lives too. It's like Sarah Jane said, you've got each other too. Just like I've got my sister and my girlfriend and all of my other friends. And when you've got that… well, it won't make it go away, but it helps you live with it."  
  
Silence took over again. "Thank you for saving us." Now it was Bliss speaking. "I… I'm just glad it's over. I'm glad we can try to get back to normal now. And you're right… we do have each other still, I mean."  
  
"We shouldn't have gone looking for the Doctor," Elton said, quietly.  
  
Everyone looked at him.  
  
"That's what drew the Absorbaloff to us," he continued. "We were looking for the Doctor. But we should have known better… _I_ should have known better."  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Colin.  
  
"The Doctor is dangerous. Being near him… people die from that." Tears were showing in Elton's eyes. "The things that come after him, the things he goes after, it's too much for people like us. We should stay away. We should all stay away! Otherwise this happens… or things like my…" He stopped speaking. Whatever it was, the pain was too great to continue.  
  
"It's okay," Ursula said to him.  
  
"You said you met the Doctor before." Sarah Jane had a sad expression on her face. "When you were a child. What happened?"  
  
"There was a monster… a shadow… and the Doctor came, and the monster was gone, but so was my mum! I lost my mum because of that, because of…"  
  
"Hrm." Sarah Jane frowned. "I think I remember that. A creature from the Howling Halls was loose in our world. The Doctor must have stopped it…" She stopped and lowered her eyes. "It must have hurt him so to not save your mother."  
  
"You actually knew the Doctor?" Bliss asked.  
  
"Oh, yes," she answered. "He and I traveled together. It was frightening and exciting and I would never give up those memories, not for anything in the world."  
  
"Even with how dangerous it is?" asked Ursula.  
  
To that Sarah Jane nodded quietly. "Sometimes danger is worth it."  
  
There was quiet in the room until the door opened again. A young African woman in combat fatigues stepped in. "The doctors are ready for you," she said to Elton and his friends. "I'll take you to them."  
  
Quietly the five stood up and went for the exit. Before going through the door, however, each stopped and looked to Sarah Jane and the sisters. "Thank you for saving us," Bridgit said. "Thank you ever so much."  
  
"You are welcome," Sarah Jane answered. The sisters behind her nodded and waved. "I hope you try and keep in touch," she called out to them as they stepped out.  
  
With the five Londoners gone, the three of them had the room to themselves. They all sat down. "I wonder what's going to happen now?" Cat asked.  
  
"Your commander and the Brig will discuss things, I imagine," Sarah Jane said. "He will report to the government and UNIT and decisions will be made."  
  
"And maybe we'll make colonies in this universe after all," Angel finished. "Just as long as we can make sure there aren't any of those 'Daleks' around."  
  
A sudden frown crossed Sarah Jane's face. "Daleks?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah." Angel nodded. "You've seen them?"  
  
Sarah Jane answered with a slow, quiet nod. "I was there, actually," she murmured, her voice low as if fatigued. "I was there when Davros created those tin-plated maniacs. The Doctor did what he could to stop him." Sarah Jane looked intently at them. "So you know about the Daleks."  
  
"Well, they nearly killed me," Angel answered. "And they almost killed Cat, killed a bunch of our science people actually. They nearly took over the Darglan Facility we used to live in…"  
  
"Darglan?" Sarah Jane concentrated for a moment. "I think I remember them."  
  
"Orange, tall skulls?"  
  
"I believe so, yes. The Doctor and I met them once. But please, continue."  
  
Caterina's eyes were kept low. "We lost a lot to the Daleks And it was my fault."  
  
Angel put her hand on Cat's shoulder. "You couldn't have known…"  
  
"I should have been more careful!" Caterina insisted. "You know that as much as I do. I should have found somewhere else to examine that container." Tears were in her eyes now. "And I can't let myself forget that I caused it. I cost us our home."  
  
Seeing Sarah Jane's curious expression, Angel said, "The Daleks tried to take over the Darglan Facility. We had to destroy the Facility to stop them."  
  
"Given their technology, you did the right thing. The idea of the Daleks with interuniversal travel is horrifying beyond words." Sarah Jane looked to Cat, who sniffled and fought to regain control of herself. She held back from speaking until she was sure Caterina was able to talk. "I can see why your people were being cautious about involving yourselves here, then. The Daleks are hardly our best ambassadors for our universe."  
  
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Cat muttered.  
  
"I'm not sure how much else we can tell you," Angel admitted.  
  
"You've told me enough." Sarah Jane nodded. "I can't exactly write a story about it, of course, but it's good to know all the same." She checked her watch. "I suppose I need to get going. I have a house that needs fixing up."  
  
"We can help," Caterina said. "I mean, we did bring the thing to your door."  
  
Sarah Jane answered with a grin. "That's a very kind offer, but Sir Alistair's already made the necessary arrangements." She stood up and went to the door to depart.  
  
Caterina called out to her. "Wait, Miss Smith…"  
  
"Please." She turned back, smiling. "It's Sarah Jane."  
  
"Okay. Well, um…" Caterina took a moment to consider how she was going to phrase her question. "The Doctor. The Darglan liked him, the Daleks were afraid of him, that monster wanted to absorb him… what is he? What's he like?"  
  
For a moment Sarah Jane seemed at a loss for words. Then it was clear she was considering just what words she wanted to use. "The Doctor is… the most wonderful being I have ever known," Sarah Jane said, a wistful tone in her voice. "He's brave, intelligent, and charming, and he has all of time and space at his fingertips. The wonders he can show you are as limitless as the terrors he can run into."  
  
"He sounds dangerous," Angel said,  
  
"Yes," Sarah Jane agreed. "And yet I have never regretted going with him. Not even the terrible things I saw are enough to make me regret meeting him."  
  
The immediate reply from the two sisters was silence. But there was no mistaking the growing sparkle in Caterina's hazel eyes. Sarah Jane nodded at her and said, "You're just the type of person he would love to meet, Caterina. And I hope you do. Given time, I'm sure you will."  
  
To that, Caterina had nothing to say. She accepted a hug from the older woman, who whispered "Good luck," into her ear before accepting a handshake from Angel. She turned and left the room, leaving the sisters to their thoughts.  
  
  
  
  
For a time after Sarah Jane left, Angel and Caterina remained quiet. "It's been a crazy damn day, hasn't it?" Angel finally asked.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I think I might stay on the ship next time," she continued.  
  
"Oh, I don't know…" Cat shook her head. "It was scary and stuff, but we did well. We learned a lot."  
  
"I'm not sure it's the answers our bosses wanted to hear, though.  
  
"Well… okay, maybe not. But it's still a good thing we were here." Cat looked to where Elton and his group had gone. "We helped people. We saved the day."  
  
"Yeah." Angel sighed. "It's just… I don't like seeing you in danger."  
  
"Well, I don't like being in danger either, or seeing you get hurt," Cat replied. "But that's part of life out here, right? And we still want to do this."  
  
"Yeah, we do." Angel lowered her head. "If you met this Doctor guy, and he asked you to go with him, would you?"  
  
"Well…. yeah, I think."  
  
"Even if it meant leaving behind Violeta?"  
  
At that, Cat when quiet. It was clearly something she had to think about, and think about hard. Her final reply was to say "I don't know."  
  
The next awkward silence ended with Angel getting to her feet. "Ah, forget it. Let's go find Julia. I want to go back to the _Aurora_ and eat whatever Hargert's got on the menu."  
  
"Same here," Cat agreed, following her sister out of the room.  
  
  
  
  
  
Robert, Julia, Jarod, and Meridina were present for the holo-conference with Admiral Maran and Secretary Saratova. The Russian woman had an austere look to her with her thin frame, with a swarthy complexion and graying dark hair. " _This may complicate our colonization plans_ ," she said upon receipt of the file. " _We are not prepared to face this number of potential threats to our holdings._ "  
  
"It's certainly something to deliberate," Robert agreed. "But we do have an Earth here that might be willing to work with us."  
  
" _The Earth of W8R4 seems to be in the same situation as that of R4A1, Captain. Official contact is not an option unless their governments choose full disclosure to their populaces._ " Maran shook his head. " _We'll relay your reports to the President and senior Council members, but for the time being we're putting the survey on hold. Return immediately while I determine your next assignment. Maran out._ " The two holo-images above their table disappeared.  
  
"Well, that's disappointing," said Julia. "After all that work we did, we're not staying?"  
  
"Not for now, anyway." Robert sighed. "But you saw that list. There's enough threats in this universe to deal with that we can't afford it right now." Robert tapped the comm key on his omnitool as it flashed to life. "Dale to Bridge."  
  
" _Bridge here, sir_ ," answered Locarno.  
  
"I want all runabouts to return immediately. We're jumping out."  
  
" _Yes sir. I'm sending out the order, we should be secure for jump in about ten minutes._ "  
  
With that work done, Robert turned to Jarod. "Did we learn anything special about this world?"  
  
"Well, that rift in Cardiff is interesting, from a scientific perspective," he replied. "But most of the interesting information came from the UNIT files that Director Stewart shared with us."  
  
"She might not have if UNIT realized this means it's less likely we settle in this universe," Meridina pointed out. "I could sense their desire for Alliance involvement in their area of space."  
  
"Maybe we can do that in the long run, if things work out with the war. It'll be up to the President and the others in Portland to make that decision, though." Robert stood from his chair. "Alright, I know we all have work to do. You're all dismissed."  
  
Everyone stepped out of the room while Robert remained standing. He looked out at the stars and let his mind wander.  
  
A sudden sensation filled him. A feeling of being elsewhere, of being adrift, a cloudy scene of chaos and death. He heard people crying for help as they were forced into… he couldn't see what, but he could sense that it was something horrible. Metal tromping sounded in his ears. The feeling of dread continued as he could see the _Aurora_ , damaged and nearly crippled, surrounded by a cloud of vicious enemies, like a swarm of insects picking apart the hull.  
  
And then there was a flash of blond hair. A creature on four legs flashed through his vision. And the voice in his dreams spoke yet again.  
  
" _Bad Wolf_ ," he murmured, speaking with the dream. "What does it mean? What can ' _Bad Wolf_ ' meean?"  
  
He was standing in the conference lounge again as if nothing had happened. As if he had not just seen all of that.  
  
_What does it mean?_ He thought again to himself while returning to the bridge.  
  
  
  
**Tag**  
  
  
  
  
Julia was in her office on Deck 3 getting paperwork done when a tone brought her attention to the door. "Come in," she said. When she saw it was Angel walking in she asked, "Anything wrong? It's getting late, you should be resting up."  
  
"I've just got a lot of thoughts," Angel admitted.  
  
"About the mission?"  
  
"That. And about how things have gone. And what we talked about."  
  
"Oh?" Julia looked up at her. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"I've made up my mind," Angel said. "Wherever you end up in command, I want to go with you."  
  
Julia put her hands together on the table. "Are you sure about that? Cat may not go."  
  
"I don't want her to, although I won't stop her," Angel replied. "Cat has her own life. She has a girlfriend. She needs to spread her wings and not have her big sis around watching over her shoulder all of the time."  
  
"Is that what she wants?" Julia asked.  
  
Angel crossed her arms. "I wouldn't know, I haven't asked her. I don't want to ask her. I don't want her ruining a good thing because she feels obligated to be at my side."  
  
Julia looked at her quietly. "And are you sure this is what _you_ want, Angel? That you're up to being away from Cat in the first time in your lives?"  
  
"If it's for her own good. And maybe mine too. Maybe I need to, I don't know, be more than just the angry big sis who will punch people for her little sister," Angel admitted. She shrugged. "And maybe I can only do that if I'm away from her too. If I'm off on my own."  
  
"Maybe. But I'm not sure." Julia put her hands into her lap. "I'll consider it. But I want you to do something for me."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Spend more time with Cat. And her girlfriend. Make the time for her, Angel," Julia said. "And make sure it's fun too."  
  
Angel chuckled and shook her head. "They're not really into fight training, and I'm not a science geek. And it seems like the main thing they do is play that silly holo-game together."  
  
"So I've heard." Julia's smile had a wry sense to it. "Didn't Cat ask you to play?"  
  
"She did. She wants me to be a kung fu monk or something. The costume is ridiculous, it's like one of those Chinese one-piece dresses and with a big feather in a headband."  
  
Julia imagined Angela dressed up like that and laughed. "Yeah, I can't see you in that. But maybe there's something else…? Or you could just wear whatever you want. Or…" The smile turned wistful. "Maybe you could try it? Just to see if you have fun anyway?"  
  
"Not gonna happen," Angel said. "No way."  
  
Her insistence only won her a bemused look from Julia.  
  
  
  
  
Caterina finished the last clasp on the large blue robe that made up her costume. She was met at the door by Violeta, in Archer gear, and looking very happy. She gave Cat a quick little peck of a kiss and said, "So, are you ready to hit Gugluru Volcano?"  
  
As the two started walking down to the lift, Caterina asked, "How hot is it going to be? I mean, once the game applies the environmental filters?"  
  
"I've set it to a low broil." Violeta grinned. "I don't want you to cook too much, after all. Although getting you nice and sweaty would make for a good reason to have a long, warm shower afterward." Her smile gained a mischievous edge.  
  
"I've got to finish my reports on the field mission tomorrow morning, though," Cat pointed out.  
  
"Well, I suppose we'll see how the night goes."  
  
They made their way by turbolift to Holodeck 2. As they walked down the Deck 15 corridor past assorted storage spaces, Violeta turned her head to Caterina and asked, "So what was it like? I heard that you and your sister got chased by some crazy alien that ate people."  
  
"It was… weirder than that, definitely," Caterina answered. "Actually, if anything, I enjoyed the mission just for the chance to talk to Angel. I think we needed to talk."  
  
"I'm sure you did." They approached the Holodeck 2 control panel and door. Violeta activated the panel and began loading their program. She glanced toward Caterina with her purple eyes, worry clear on her face. "Cat, I don't want to come between you and your sister, you know that, right? I'd never make you take that choice."  
  
"You don't. You haven't," Caterina assured her. She used her left hand to take Violeta's right. "Please, you don't need to worry about that."  
  
Violeta nodded and showed some relief.  
  
The door to the holodeck slid open. On the inside was swampy forest, with a tall, angry-looking mountain in the near-distance spewing red lava into the sky. The door closed behind them. "You know, we shouldn't be able to go anywhere near that," Caterina said. "The gases alone…" She stopped at seeing the patient amusement on Violeta's face. "I'm sorry, it's the scientist in me…"  
  
"I know."  
  
They stepped up toward the edge of a path leading right toward the towering volcano. Before they could climb in the holodeck entranceway activated. The door slid open and they both looked.  
  
Caterina couldn't quite keep the surprise off of her face at seeing Angel enter. She was in a fiery red Cheongsam-like garment that went down to her knees, with splits on the sides where her muscled legs slipped out. The design was framed by a golden dragon along the shoulders and left side. A red headband with Chinese characters in the same golden color as the dragon on the dress kept her dark hair in place.  
  
"Don't laugh," Angel demanded.  
  
"Uh… you forgot the feather," Caterina pointed out.  
  
"No way, no how little sister."  
  
"Well, we can do without," Violeta said, although she playfully ran a finger along the dark blue feather on her hat, which Angel felt looked more like a Three Musketeers hat than anything from William Tell or Robin Hood. "So, you're a monk."  
  
"I hit things, right?"  
  
"Well, yes. But not just that. The monks use the chakras, you can access specific abilities by doing hand movements and battle cries that make your punches and kicks stronger for a short time, or keep you from suffering damage…"  
  
"Let's just stick with 'I hit things' and I'll figure the rest out," Angel insisted, but her amused grin betrayed that she wasn't annoyed.  
  
"That sounds good to me." Caterina couldn't keep the smile off her face. As Angel walked up beside her, nor could she keep the tear from her eye. "Thanks for coming," she said quietly to her big sister.  
  
"Thanks for the offer," Angel replied, just as quietly, to her little sister.  
  
"I'm still surprised you came. I didn't think you were interested in this game."  
  
"I'm not." Angel grinned and put an arm around her sister's shoulders. "But that's not the important thing. I mean, what kind of big sister would I be if I didn't take the time to have some fun with my little sister?"  
  
Caterina responded by hugging her sister while Violeta watched, a happy smile on her face. "The Fire Fiend Kari isn't going to wait for us forever," Violeta teased.  
  
And with that, the two sisters followed Violeta toward the holographic volcano, sharing the same smile.


End file.
